Revenge of the Master
by wickedmetalviking1990
Summary: prequel/inter-quel/sequel to "The Doctor's Star Wars". The Tenth Doctor is rescued from the Death Star by River Song, going back in time on the Eleventh Doctor's orders. But she met someone else and now they are going back in time to save the galaxy from the return of the Master. Prequel/AU-prequel, rated T and based loosely on Kelvington's parody.
1. An Unexpected Event

**(AN: Hello again, Whovians and Star Wars fans alike. This is the prequel/inter-quel/sequel to _The Doctor's Star Wars_, set in the prequel trilogy of _Star Wars_ but with a twist. Rather than just retelling the prequel stories [as I'm not that big a fan of them], they're a bit altered. Some of this has to do with the fact that, as you shall see, events have been altered, some of it just writer's prerogative [or as you would put it, "it's my fan-fic and I can do what I want!"]. But it will be good, I promise.)  
**

* * *

**An Unexpected Event**

The Doctor opened his eyes in the middle of a battle. He was on the same place he had been when Darth Vader, who called himself the Master, had struck him down: the Death Star. Only now everyone was in such a hurry, alarms going off and blaring so near, that they didn't pay much attention to one they thought was dead. In fact, he knew he should have been dead. That lightsaber slash must have ruptured both of his hearts, it was certainly deep enough. But he was still alive, which meant that he had regenerated.

_Well_, he thought. _I'm in a cell, which means I don't have a mirror. Damn! I wanted to see what my new face is like, see if I'm ginger or not._

Suddenly, the Doctor heard a sound that he had not heard since landing on Tatooine: the whirring of the TARDIS' engines as it materialized just inside the cell.

"What you came back?" exclaimed the Doctor at his TARDIS. Then suddenly he recognized his new voice, paused and moved his tongue over his teeth. "Mmm, new teeth. That's weird."

The door of the TARDIS was suddenly thrown open, and there stood in the door a woman, roughly in her early to mid thirties with big, curly blond hair, fair skin, blue eyes, and a wide smile across her face. She was dressed in tight-fitting black shirt and trousers, and had two lightsabers hooked onto her belt.

"Hello, sweetie," the woman greeted.

"Who are you?" the Doctor asked.

"I'm River Song," she replied. "I'm your wife."

"I'm married?" exclaimed the Doctor.

"In the future," she added. "Now come on, I think we're just in time."

"Time for what?"

"You don't know?" she replied, smirking. "The Death Star is under attack, the Rebels are moments away from destroying it. We have to go, now." She held out her hand.

"Why should I trust you?" the Doctor asked. "You stole the TARDIS."

"Yes, I did," she nodded.

"But how?" he asked. "Only I can pilot the TARDIS."

"Not exactly, sweetie," River replied, holding out her hand to him. "Now hurry, we don't have time to talk."

_Rebel Base in range!_ a voice announced.

The Doctor looked about, gritting his teeth, then took River's hand in his own. She pulled him into the TARDIS, and sealed the door. It was the same TARDIS the Doctor realized, but he was surprised to see her move to the controls and use them accurately.

"Wait, you can pilot the TARDIS?" the Doctor exclaimed.

"Yes," River said. "Now, let's get us out of here."

"Where are we going?" the Doctor asked. "We need to find the Rebels! Rose is down there, she'll be wondering if I'm dead or not!"

"You'll be seeing Rose soon enough," River said. "For now, we're taking a little detour."

"How long?"

"A few years or more," she said. "But don't take it from me." She nodded down one end of the TARDIS. "He'll tell you the rest."

The Doctor turned away from the TARDIS console, and his mouth fell open. Standing there, a few inches taller than he was himself, was a blast from the past: _his_ past. He was tall, with big, curly brown hair, wearing a brown hat, with a long brown trench coat and a dozen or so brightly-colored scarfs wrapped around his neck.

"Hello there," the stranger greeted.

"What?" exclaimed the Doctor.

"Oh, where are my manners!" the old Doctor said, rummaging through his pockets before pulling out a tiny, orange thing that looked like a gelatinous human. "Jelly Baby?"

* * *

**(AN: Yes! That is the 4th Doctor, as made famous by Tom Baker! Now I need to go back and see how he behaves in order to accurately depict him [and not just his fascination with Jelly Babies].)  
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**(Hold on now, because the adventure has just begun.)  
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	2. The Three Doctors

**(AN: No reviews yet? Come on, people! You loved _The Doctor's Star Wars_ and now here's the next part, which promises to be _amazing!_ Don't be shy, review!)  
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* * *

**The Three Doctors**

"Blimey!" exclaimed the young Doctor, taking the sweet from his counterpart's hand. "I'd forgotten you."

"Doctor," River said, to the younger one. "He says that he's..."

"A Timelord," the older Doctor said.

"B-But that's not possible!" the younger one exclaimed. "Laws of Time specifically state that one cannot jump through one's own timeline."

"You made it possible," River said, walking over to the back-side of the TARDIS' main console, where she placed her hand on something foreign.

"A paradox machine," the younger Doctor muttered. "Oh, that is fierce-some technology!" He rubbed his hand through his short, spiky hair. He then turned back to his predecessor. "That explains why you here, but what about the TARDIS? I mean, the last time I saw her was on Tatooine..." He turned to River, a suspicious glare in his eye.

"Did you steal my TARDIS?" he demanded.

"Yes," she nodded. "But on your orders."

"My orders?" the young Doctor asked perplexedly. "But no one else can pilot the TARDIS."

"Except me," River replied. "Besides..." She held up the old sonic screwdriver, half-destroyed and almost useless after millennium drifting in space. "It came when it was summoned."

"But that's my screwdriver!" the younger Doctor exclaimed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out, to his surprise, the exact same one. His large eyes became even larger as he saw that they were exactly the same.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Like I told you, I'm your future wife," she said with a smile.

"Well, I'd have to say," the older Doctor said. "If you really are the Doctor, then you have impeccable tastes in women. She's smart, funny, capable of flying the TARDIS, and she has excellent hair."

"So do you," River said to the older one with a smile.

"Alright, this is just ridiculous," the younger Doctor said. "Why would I marry anyone?"

"What, the whole 'I'm the last of the Timelords' thing?" River replied. "You think you're the only one who has to live forever."

"Wait, last of the Timelords?" the older one asked.

"Can't tell, spoilers," River winked, then turned back to the younger Doctor. "Now, please, sweetie, try to keep up because I'm only going to say this once. I'm from your future, and you sent me back here to rescue you. Well, you're rescued, but I uncovered something else as well: something you must have left me when I wasn't looking."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small silver disc-shaped thing, which she placed on the floor and pressed one of the white, lit buttons on its rim. The image of a young man in a suit with a bow-tie appeared as a blue-tinted holographic image.

"Who's that?" both Doctors asked as one.

"That's your future self," River said.

"Blimey, what happened to my chin, and my eyebrows?" the younger Doctor asked. "And I'm not ginger!"

"Just shut up and listen to what you have to say." River replied.

_Hello, River_, the Eleventh Doctor's holograph said._ I wrote this message when we were on the _Liberty_ cruiser_, waiting for our briefing. _I've already told you that, soon, you'll have to leave me and go back to this point time. If my younger self is watching is, then just listen: there's something we found, you'll no doubt see it in the end, but it allows the TARDIS to go back in my own time-stream._

"Paradox machine," muttered the Tenth Doctor.

_River, you now have all the time in the world. I want you to go back and recruit myself from different points of my time stream: strength in numbers, after all. Start with my first incarnation, you'll likely find him on Earth during the early 60s. No doubt he will have felt the distortion in space-time: he'll help you. See? You're not alone after all, Doctor Song._

With that, the holograph faded.

"Wait, I'm here too, my first one?" the Tenth Doctor exclaimed. "Where is he? Oh, what I would give to say hello to my older self."

"He's not _in_ the TARDIS," River replied.

"Excuse me," the Fourth Doctor spoke, and both of them turned about. "But how are you sure that _this_ is indeed me from the future?"

"Of course I am," the younger Doctor said, walking up to his older counterpart.

"Then you would have no trouble answering some simple questions about my past, would you?" the older Doctor asked, crossing his arms.

"Sure, go ahead." the young one replied, crossing his arms as well.

"During my first incarnation," the older one began. "Did I introduce myself as a Gallifreyan?"

"Wrong," the younger one replied. "I said, 'I am a citizen of the universe, and a gentleman to boot!'"

"On what planet did I first do battle with the Daleks in my second incarnation?"

"Vulcan, but not the same planet as Spock was from, whom _you_ met on Aprilia III." The younger Doctor smiled as he saw the older one's eyes, which were so much like his own, swell in size. "You never told anyone about that adventure, did you? How about that!"

"You seem to have all my memories," the older Doctor said, scrutinizing the younger one. "But there are ways of mimicking those. Have you encountered the Cybermen at any point?"

"Yes, but that's besides the point!" the younger one dismissed. "I'm not a victim of info-stamps, I am you!" He turned to River. "But why are we here, and where _are_ we?"

"Orbiting an outer-rim planet called Naboo," River said. "About thirty-two years before you and Rose landed on Tatooine."

"But why are we here?" he asked again.

"You know the answer," River said, gesturing to a view-screen of the TARDIS. "Ask yourself."

The Doctor walked over to the console and his jaw dropped open. Eager to see what it was, the older Doctor joined him and saw, to his surprise, a face he had not seen in almost ten years. It was an older man, sitting in an office somewhere in a large metropolis planet, possibly Coruscant. His white hair was slicked back and he wore a black suit.

"Ah!" the Doctor said, pointing at the others on his screen. "There you are!"

* * *

**(AN: This chapter was pretty much just fluff, but we will get to some other more serious parts of the story in the next one. I had to do some research on ancient Whovian history, but I think it should turn out well.)**

**(I also think the Doctors should invent call-signs for themselves. As in my other stories, the _Ozian Adventures_ series and _Which Witch is Which?_, having out-of-body experiences or meeting other versions of yourself can be confusing. I can't use "the real Doctor" for any of them [despite the hipster-Whovians who would want me to], because they are ALL the "real" Doctor.)  
**

**(One author [once again, who shall not be named] criticized most of the Whovian fan-fics on here for just being multi-Doctor fics and slash stuff. Well, this _has_ to be multi-Doctor. Not just in keeping with _Kelvington_'s story [there was more of a story in the prequel ones, at least for "The Phantom Menace"], but in restoring the damage to the timeline that this whole story has caused.)  
**

**(Now review! [if you do, the Fourth Doctor will give you jelly babies!])  
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	3. The Jedi

**(AN: As you will doubtless see soon, the story of _The Phantom Menace_ in this one is altered slightly. It is NOT based on Adywan's re-edit, because currently, he is bogged down with editing _Empire Strikes Back_ [and plotting to do horrible things to _Return of the Jedi_, my favorite of the original trilogy]. Instead, I took inspiration from YouTube user _belatedmedia_, who presented a rather thorough concept for a better version of _The Phantom Menace_. So I've got the basic, overall tale of the Star Wars trilogy, _belatedmedia_'s ideas, _Kelvington_'s cross-over parody story-line, as well as any ideas of my own to insert as well in order to make an amazing story. Needless to say, I have my work cut out for me.)  
**

**(Thank you for the review. While, obviously, Ten would be the 'older' one, if you sit him up next to Four, he doesn't look that old [lol, that was just ironic silliness and the double meaning of the word "young" and "old"]. Also, been re-watching new Who and NOBODY told me that I was too reserved with my depiction of River Song! Well, hopefully I can change that.)  
**

* * *

**The Jedi**

"Oh, that is brilliant!" exclaimed the younger Doctor to himself, before turning back to the screen. "So, old me, where are you at and why are you here?"

"Old?" commented the Doctor. "I'm only four hundred and fifty. If anyone is old, it's you: nine hundred and three years old, and you look like such a child."

"Oh, by the way, you can see my hair!" the younger Doctor noted. "Am I ginger?"

"No, but that is irrelevant," the Doctor began. "I sensed the alteration in the timeline and your friend, Professor Song, has confirmed it. It seems the Master has survived your last battle with him."

"Wait, last battle?" asked the younger Doctor. "My last battle with him was..."

"Earth, 2009," the Doctor continued. "The winter season, I believe. The Master brought back the Timelords, including Rassilion. They tried to pass the Ultimate Sanction, but you defeated them. You destroyed the Immortality Gate and cast them back into the Time Lock: but there was a second outcome, one unforeseen. They went back, as you believed, but the Master did not go back with them: he went farther back, at least nine years ago from this very date."

"Wait, you spoke of the Ultimate Sanction," the younger Doctor noted. "That means you know about the Last Great Time War."

"Indeed," the Doctor said. "It all seems rather foolish to me, all this pining for the Timelords. I've always traveled alone, so the knowledge, uh, doesn't seem to affect me."

"You're lucky," the younger Doctor stated. "But back to the Master, how do you know he's back _here_ at this point in time?"

"Because of what Professor Song told me," the Doctor replied. "When you fought the Master, you said that he and Anakin Skywalker were one and the same. That's why we're here. According to the timeline, Skywalker is very young at this point. If the Master has indeed become him, then it is wise for us to catch him at his weakest."

"But how?" the younger Doctor exclaimed.

"Unknown," the Doctor on the screen said. "Which is not exactly something I like saying in my line of work."

"So, what do we do?" the younger Doctor said, but then suddenly there was another beep on the screen. "A ship's coming out of hyperspace. Consular-class cruiser. About four on-board."

"That's our cue," River said. She ran over to the TARDIS and threw a lever.

"Excuse me, Professor Song," the scarf-wearing Doctor interjected. "I make the decisions around here!"

"Why, because you're a Timelord?" she replied with a smirk.

"Just because you can fly the TARDIS doesn't automatically make you the pilot," he said.

"It's part of the plan," River said, as the TARDIS' read-out indicated they had transported. She looked up with a smile on her face. "Ah, we made it. Come along, boys, we've got places to go and people to see. Mind you, they won't be too friendly about us stowing away on their ship."

"Who won't be?" asked the younger-looking Doctor.

She walked across to the door of the TARDIS and threw it open. Beyond was the transport hull of the Consular-class cruiser. Standing directly before them were two figures clad in brown robes with hoods thrown over their faces. Both Doctors walked out to meet them, while the scarf-wearing Doctor reached into one of his bigger-on-the-inside pockets.

"Hello, boys," River said, smiling to the two figures.

"Nice to meet you, I'm the Doctor," the Tenth Doctor said with a smile on his face.

"Jelly babies, anyone?" the Fourth Doctor asked, his hand extended between River and the Tenth Doctor, holding two of the gelatinous candies in his hand.

"Who are you?" the tallest of the two figures asked, his voice calm and mature. "How did you get on-board this vessel?"

"It's the TARDIS," the Tenth Doctor said, thumbing back to the blue police box. "Time And Relative Dimensions In Space: we shifted into your ship as you entered the system. And I already said who _I_ am."

"What about the others?" the other figure added. This one was a bit shorter and sounded younger, at least mid-twenties. "Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm him," the Fourth Doctor said, pointing with his other hand at the Tenth Doctor.

"Doctor River Song," the woman replied.

"I am Qui-Gon Jinn," the older figure said, removing his hood. He was a middle-aged man with long, brown hair and a short beard. "This is my padawan learner, Obi-wan Kenobi." The younger figure removed his hood, revealing a young man, clean-shaven, with short-cropped brown hair.

"Jedi," River said. "We're in the right time."

"Right time for what?" Obi-wan asked.

"Oh, we're coming with you," the Tenth Doctor said.

"I'm afraid that doesn't hold much promise," Obi-wan said, looking out at the view-port on the side of the ship. "The Jedi are little more than political arbiters these days, policing the peoples of the Republic for the Senate. If only these were the days of old."

"I'm sorry, political arbiters?" the Tenth Doctor asked, stepping outside of the TARDIS. "I thought you were peace-keepers."

"We _were_," Obi-wan said. "But there is no longer any war, not for a millennia. Not since the Sith War."

"Please forgive my padawan," Qui-Gon apologized. "He is head-strong and still has much to learn of the Force." He placed his hand on Obi-wan's shoulder. "Those were dark times, Obi-wan. Be thankful that the wars are over and that we can till the harvest in a time of peace."

Suddenly there was a beeping sound, and both of the Jedi ran back to the cockpit, while the three time-travelers slowly made their way up from behind. Outside the view-port, they saw the planet Naboo, surrounded by a fleet of giant, ringed ships with a central sphere in the center.

"What is this?" River asked.

"Trade Federation blockade," Qui-Gon said. "That's why we're here, negotiating a settlement."

"Those ships there," Obi-wan indicated, pointing to wide-winged landers departing from the ring-shaped ships. Hundreds of them were embarking towards the planet. "Federation landers: it's an invasion!"

"Captain?" Qui-Gon asked.

"Yes sir?" a short-haired woman in the cockpit of the ship responded.

"Hail the Federation ships," the older Jedi said.

"No response, sir." she replied.

"Can you get a fix on where those landers are going?" Obi-wan asked.

The captain punched up the ship's scanners, which showed the read-out on the screen at the top of the cockpit. "They're landing outside the capital city of Theed."

"Divert course," Qui-Gon ordered. "Land us outside of the Naboo habitations."

"As you wish," the captain replied.

"It seems there is something wrong, Doctors," Qui-Gon said, turning to the time travelers.

"That's music to my ears," River said with a smile.

"We're landing in what looks like the middle of an invasion," the old Jedi said.

"Yeah, so?" the Tenth Doctor asked. "We're going with you."

* * *

**(AN: Nice start, and I had the First Doctor give some kind of explanation, as well as realizing that he is actually the YOUNGER Doctor, despite Hartnell being far older-looking than Tennant.)**

**(We'll have much more adventures the farther we go, and we'll get to have a rather interesting twist once we land on Naboo. Just you wait [and review while you're waiting. I like reviews, reviews are cool].)  
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	4. Invasion

**(AN: Thank you once again for the reviews. Yes, the First Doctor was there: he was the one on the screen, the only one I referred to as "the Doctor". As much as I love all the Doctors I've seen, I do think that the first four [or five] actors hail from the classical age of British film/theater, where they have this lordly air about them [even Tom Baker seems just as lordly, even when threatening people with 'this deadly jelly baby']: so obviously, they get BIG respect from me.)  
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**(Okay, a few things before we begin this chapter. Yes, there are Gungans, but there will be no, I repeat, NO Jar Jar Binks. A lot of the younger fans, including my brother, like him and criticize us who find him annoying beyond belief [the Podrace sequence, for example]. About the Gungans that _do_ appear, their accent is more frog-like, like how it was depicted in the audio-book of _The Phantom Menace_. That seems better than a racial stereotype, don't you think?)  
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* * *

**Invasion**

The transport cruiser touched down somewhere in the forest of Naboo. The loading ramp was lowered and out they walked: the two Jedi and the time travelers. The captain and co-pilot remained on-board, ready to take off in case the Jedi needed a quick escape. The Tenth Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to send the TARDIS into orbit and activate its shields. They then followed on behind the others as they made their way through the forest.

"You know what I was thinking?" Ten asked. "You see, there's three of me about, so we should give ourselves call-signs, you know what I'm saying? Instead of me saying 'That's me' and then you saying 'That's me' also and so on and so forth. Even a Timelord could get his mind boggled with that kind of wibbley wobbley."

"I call Jelly Baby," the Fourth Doctor said.

"You can have it," the Tenth Doctor replied. "But what about me? I mean, I could be 'Specs'," He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of thick-rimmed glasses. "Eh? But they haven't had glasses on this planet in..."

"Almost one hundred thousand years," the Fourth Doctor, code-named 'Jelly Baby', completed.

"And what about my youngest self?" Ten asked. "What should we call him? Oh, speaking of which, how is he even here?"

"Paradox machine, sweetie," River said.

"Oh yeah, allows you to go back through one's own time-stream," he said. "So, you went back through mine and picked him up."

"Exactly."

"Seems like a lot of work just to catch one little..."

Suddenly there were heavy blasters heard just behind them and a huge explosion. Both of the Jedi ran back to the time travelers, gazing through the trees at the column of smoke that was steadily rising up from among the trees.

"There goes your transport," Four stated.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Obi-wan commented.

Both of the Doctors turned their heads as they heard rustling in the nearby thick patch of forest greenery. The bushes shook for a moment, while the Tenth Doctor walked slowly towards it.

"Whoever you are," he said. "We come in peace. You don't have to hide from us."

A voice answered him: deep and gruff, yet warbled, as though some amphibian had been given a voice to speak.

"It's not from you that we hide, outlander," the voice said. "It's from the machines."

"Machines?" Qui-Gon asked, stepping forward. "You mean the droid army?"

"Yeah," the voice replied.

"Come out, now," Qui-Gon said. "We're Jedi. No harm will come to you while we're here."

Slowly at first, there appeared a tall, slightly humanoid figure walking out of the brush. It was part-amphibian, with a mouth like a duck's bill, two beady eyes that protruded from the top of its head, and large ears that hung from the back of its hair-less head.

"Many tales have been spoken of the Jedi," the creature said. He then turned back into the bush and whispered something in his native language. Several more such amphibians appeared, most of them wielding slings and large skeletal shields. "Have you come to help us?"

"Help you?" Qui-Gon asked.

"The machines," the first creature said. "They came almost a month ago, destroying everything on the surface. Many Gungans killed, but most of us are safe, 'cuz the machines attack the Naboo mostly."

"Gungans?" Obi-wan asked.

"We are the Gungans," the creature said, gesturing back to those behind him. "My name is Tarpals, captain of the Spear Battalion of the Gungan Grand Army. My troop was re-posted here to look for stragglers in the forest before we return to our hidden cities. The machines won't find us there."

"Do you hear that, Master?" Obi-wan turned to Qui-Gon. "An invasion! Finally, we get to see some real action."

"Patience, Obi-wan," Qui-Gon dismissed. "To seek conflict is not the way of the Jedi." He paused, rubbing his chin for a moment. "There's something else, though: something that's rather disturbing." He turned back to the Gungans. "Captain, how long ago did you say this invasion has been on-going?"

"A full month ago," Tarpals replied.

"How could the Senate not know about this?" Qui-Gon asked, turning to Obi-wan. "More importantly, how did the Jedi Council not sense this?" He sighed. "Our mandate to over-see the welfare of the Naboo during the blockade has changed, Obi-wan. We have to bring the Queen back to Coruscant, and get her out of this war-zone." He turned then to Tarpals.

"How long have your people lived on this planet?" he asked.

"Since before the Naboo," the Gungan said. "But we have no relations with them. They think they're better than us, more...civilized."

"Well, it seems that should change, shouldn't it?" the Tenth Doctor interjected. "Now, which way to Theed?"

"Follow the machines," Tarpals said. "You'll find the Naboo that way."

"Thank you for your help," Qui-Gon said. "We leave in peace, with the promise to return and end this invasion."

"May the gods smile on your path, outlanders," Tarpals said.

* * *

What the Gungans had said was indeed true. They did not have to search long before they found the droid army. The massive Multi-Troop Transports, behemoth machines dropped from the droid dropships, carried thousands of droids. Into one of these the Jedi and the time travelers stowed away, following it on its way to the Naboo palace. Inside, by the glow of the two Doctors' sonic screwdrivers, they removed one of the collapsed, unactivated battle droids from its hangar and were taking it apart.

"See that?" the Tenth Doctor said, examining the 'back pack' on the battle droid, now opened with all the components and super transistor chips lying about on the floor. "B1 battle droids have this droid control receiver pod installed on each one." He picked up a small, round metal object.

"Could you shut it off?" River asked.

"Well," the Tenth Doctor replied. "I could, but that would probably ruin my screwdriver. Thousands of battle droids would have to be disabled, not just shut down, or they could reroute the signal. All that power drain might short-circuit it."

"So what should we do?" Obi-wan asked.

"Well," the Fourth Doctor began. "We should probably rendezvous with my assistant, I sent her ahead of us to Naboo undercover."

"Wait, you brought a companion?" the Fourth Doctor asked. "Which one? Is it Sarah? I've wanted to see Sarah for a long time."

"It's Romana," the Fourth Doctor replied. "She's been posing as a handmaid for Amidala, Queen of the Naboo."

"You've infiltrated the palace?" Obi-wan asked. "Couldn't you have sent some kind of message to Coruscant?"

"We went to rescue him," the Fourth Doctor gestured with his sonic screwdriver at the Tenth. "Couldn't be in two places at once, even for us."

The older Jedi pressed his finger to his lips as the front section of the MTT opened up and they quickly made their way out of the machine and down a paved walkway in a large city. As they made their way down a nearby alley, the Fourth Doctor halted, pointed his screwdriver around and it emitted a high-pitched tone. Another one was heard, and a tall woman dressed in burnt orange robes appeared from out of a building.

"Doctor," the woman said. "You certainly took your time."

"Well, we had to make a few quick stops along the way," the Fourth Doctor dismissed. "Here, let me introduce you to my traveling companions."

"I thought that's who I was," Romana replied.

"This is me," the Fourth Doctor said, gesturing to the younger-looking Doctor, who playfully saluted. "Uh, from the future. And that is my wife, Professor Song."

"Wife?" Romana asked, turning to River. The two women eyed each other for a moment, while the Gallifreyan woman raised one eyebrow quizzically.

"And these are the Jedi," the Fourth Doctor introduced.

"Qui-Gon Jinn," the elder said. "My apprentice, Obi-wan Kenobi."

"Get out of sight!" the Fourth Doctor exclaimed, stepping into the shadow of the building behind them as a battalion of battle droids walked down the street. He turned to his companion. "Romana, what happened?"

"About a few days after you left," the Gallifreyan woman began. "All communications were knocked out. Sio Bibble, the governor of Theed, warned the Queen that it would mean invasion." She scoffed. "Foolish girl! She refused to believe the Trade Federation would move their blockade any farther, insisting that negotiations were their only tool. She didn't even arm her citizens or warn them of what would happen: the very next day, their landers touched down and we were invaded. It took them a month, since not all of the Naboo were willing to go down with their queen, but they finally captured Theed."

"Why are you not at the side of your queen?" River asked.

"I had something the Federation should never get their hands on," Romana replied. She produced a long, slender device which she said was her own sonic screwdriver. She then turned back to the door from whence she had come. "It's alright, you can come out now."

From out of the doorway appeared a small, squarish robotic dog with a rectangular body and neon-red eyes.

"Hello there, K9," the Fourth Doctor said to the robotic dog. "You been good since I left?"

"_Affirmative_," the dog said.

"Oi, isn't that clever!" exclaimed the Tenth Doctor with a broad smile. "I remember K9!"

"Does it do anything?" asked Obi-wan.

"Actually, it does," Romana replied. "But we haven't got time to explain what it does. The Queen has been captured. Nute Gunray, the Viceroy of the Trade Federation, is determined to have her sign a treaty legitimizing their occupation or else keep her imprisoned in the camps they've been building outside of Theed."

"Well, then," the Tenth Doctor said. "As the French say in such moments, _allons-y!_"

* * *

**(AN: I wanted to go further, but I just couldn't come up with anything. I guess that's the point where you decide, as an author, where to end a chapter or not.)**

**(So, how did you like my take on the Gungans? They don't talk in broken Basic because 1] some people think that is racially offensive and I'm de-stereotyping the Gungans and 2], if you've played _Galactic Battlegrounds_, which I have and consider it mostly canon, you'd know that the Gungan kingdom has been around for thousands of years. Clearly, they've grown past 'mesa' and 'yousa'.)  
**

**("I like reviews, reviews are cool." as Eleven would say. So don't fear to review. Because sometimes, on bad days, I just feel like logging on only to delete and erase all of my stories but then I see someone's reviewed and I'm like "Oh, you really do care" and then I think to myself, start writing, they want more!)  
**


	5. Escape

**(AN: Yay, reviews!)  
**

**(One thing that I'm gonna change is that Jedi don't pull out their lightsabers at every little thing. That kind of bugged me about the prequel trilogy. It would be like, "omg, Anakin, there's a spider on the wall!" -takes out lightsaber and hacks it in two- "oh, Anakin, you need to shave!" -uses lightsaber to shave- That was just satirical, but you get my point. Every little thing, out came the lightsabers. Also, the battle droids will sound more like how they did in _Phantom Menace_ and _Attack of the Clones_. They just got too silly in _Revenge of the Sith_, and then the CG Clone Wars series [which I refuse to acknowledge as canon] made them even sillier.)  
**

* * *

**Escape**

They were now on an over-hang that looked down on a cobbled street. Below a battalion of battle droids were leading a group of Naboo officials. Romana identified them as the Queen, Governor Bibble, Captain Panaka of the Royal Guard, several of the guards and a handful of the Queen's handmaidens. Throwing up his hood, Qui-Gon was the first one to jump down from the balcony, landing in front of the battle droids.

"_Halt!_" the lead battle droid said, aiming his blaster at Qui-Gon. "_You're under arrest._"

Qui-Gon gestured with his hand, and the battle droid collapsed, deactivated. At this, the other droids aimed their blasters at Qui-Gon and took fire. But Obi-wan was too fast for them. He leaped down from the over-hang, coming to a halt before Qui-Gon, and activated his lightsaber, which flashed a brilliant shade of blue, like the clear, day sky of Naboo. The blasts of the droids were deflected harmlessly off the blade. Behind him, Qui-Gon stood with his hand out, deactivating the droids with the Force: first one by one, then in pairs, then in triples. At last they all lay dead about them. From behind, their companions climbed down from the over-hang.

"I'm Qui-Gon Jinn," the older Jedi said. "I'm a Jedi master and ambassador for the Supreme Chancellor. We should leave the streets, your highness."

"Get their weapons!" Captain Panaka ordered his guards as they made their way into a deserted building. At the end there walked the time travelers, but Romana hid herself among the Queen's handmaidens and listened to what they had said.

"You're ambassadors, Master Jedi?" Governor Bibble asked. "Sent to negotiate the blockade, I assume? It seems your negotiations have failed, ambassador."

"Close enough, governor," the old Jedi said, then turned to the Queen. "Your Highness, under the circumstances, I suggest you come to Coruscant with me."

"Thank you, ambassador," the Queen replied. "But my place is with my people."

"They will kill you if you stay," Qui-Gon stated.

"They need her to sign a treaty to make this invasion of theirs legal," Panaka explained. "They can't afford to kill her."

"There's something else behind all this, your Highness," Qui-Gon replied. "There's no logic in the Federation's move here. My feelings tell me they will destroy you."

"Either choice presents great danger to us all," the Queen stated.

"We are brave, your Highness." one of the handmaidens demurred.

"If you are to leave, your Highness, it must be now." Qui-Gon said.

The Queen's face fell, then she made her answer. "It is dangerous here, I know, but I feel that if I go with you and plead our case before the Senate, they will end the Federation. Then I will go with you, ambassador."

"Do you have transports?" Qui-Gon asked.

"In the main hangar, this way!" Panaka said, leading the way down the alleys and streets of Theed towards the hangar. At the rear, however, the time travelers were having a discussion of their own.

"Something's wrong here," the Fourth Doctor said.

"What, more than it already is?" River asked.

"We have to contact the other one," he said.

"But haven't there been no communications from here?" the Tenth Doctor asked.

"Yes, but they didn't have me, or him," the Fourth Doctor gestured to K9. "Alright, boy, I need a signal booster, strong enough to break through the Federation's communication's disruptors."

"_Affirmative_," K9 stated. The squarish back of the robot dog opened up and a small satellite dish protruded from its back. The Fourth Doctor then took River's holo-projector and placed it on the ground. An image then appeared of the youngest incarnation of the Doctor.

"Jelly Baby to Gentleman, come in," the Fourth Doctor said.

"Oh, are we going by call-signs now?" asked the Doctor. "How interesting."

"Listen," the Fourth Doctor began. "What's going on up there?"

"It seems as though my plan has hit a snag," the Doctor explained. "Someone else gave the Federation a better offer."

"Wait, what are you saying?" the Tenth Doctor interjected. "Are you saying this invasion was _your_ idea?"

"The blockade was, yes," the Doctor replied. "But someone else contacted Viceroy Gunray and gave him a better offer if he commenced the invasion. But we'll have to accelerate our plans: yes, we'll show them a thing or two."

"We? What do you mean, we?"

"Goodbye, Doctor!" the Doctor said to his oldest incarnation, giving him a cheeky smile as the holograph dissipated.

"You're interfering with the timeline!" the Tenth Doctor said to his younger counterpart.

"Well, actually, the Master did it first," the Fourth explained. "But it wasn't a big change, just trying to keep the Naboo on planet, so they wouldn't find him."

"Why are they so important, and who is him? Do you mean the Master?"

"Yes, of course I mean the Master!" explained Four. "But there's something about the Queen you should..."

"Handmaid to Jelly Baby, come in, Jelly Baby," Romana's voice called over the comlink.

"Jelly Baby here," the Fourth Doctor replied, putting the comlink's speaker to his lips.

"We've reached the hangar," she said. "Unless you've got the TARDIS in one of your dimensionally transcendental pockets, you might want to get over here as soon as possible."

"We're on our way," Four said, shutting off the com. "Alright now, let's go."

* * *

The main hangar of the city of Theed sat on the edge of the cliff on which sat the city itself. It was a fair distance from where they had found the Queen, and they walked mostly in the alleyways and shadows, hiding from the patrols of battle droids walking throughout the city streets. Any droids which happened to find their way towards them were deactivated by the sonic screwdrivers of the two Doctors.

When they reached the hangar, however, they saw that it was filled with battle droids. The two Jedi had their lightsabers out as they were fending off three crab-like destroyer droids, known as droidekas among their Nemoidian designers. Behind them, the Queen's security guards under Captain Panaka were keeping the other battle droids from flanking them. Unfortunately, it looked as though they would be unable to reach the sleek, silver-white J-Type 327 cruiser sitting in the hangar.

"This is where we come in," the Tenth Doctor said. He pulled out something from his pocket, and River and the Fourth Doctor mirrored him. One by one they ran down the opposite side of the hangar, until they were upon a battalion of droids newly joining the battle. With a crack and a hiss, the Tenth Doctor's blue lightsaber sprung to life and he hacked two droids down with one sweep. At his back were River and the Fourth Doctor, both wielding emerald lightsabers, as they deflected shots and hacked apart the battle droids. One by one they made their way over to the under-portion of the silver ship, coming up behind the destroyer droids. Shutting off his lightsaber with his other hand, the Tenth Doctor used his screwdriver to deactivate the shields on the destroyer droids: they fell to pieces in moments from the deflected blasts from the Jedi.

"Go!" the Tenth Doctor shouted.

Taking the cue, they made their way onto the open loading ramp of the sleek, silver starship. The last one on-board was K9, who rolled up the ramp just as it was closing. Once on-board, the ship rocked as it lifted off and then all was still as the artificial gravity was activated. Though there were no windows on the loading bay level of the cruiser, the Doctors, who could feel the rotation of the Earth, knew that within a few minutes they would be outside of Naboo's atmosphere.

"It seems we've overestimated you, Doctor," Obi-wan said. Both of the Doctors turned as they saw the young Jedi standing before them with a very suspicious look in his eyes.

"Come again?" the Tenth Doctor asked.

"That lightsaber you wield," he said, pointing to the lightsaber in the Tenth Doctor's hand. "That is the weapon of a Jedi."

"Yeah," Ten replied as though it were no thing, then pocketed the deactivated lightsaber.

"Just who are you?" Obi-wan asked.

"I think it would be better if we spoke with Qui-Gon," the Tenth Doctor stated.

"Why?" Obi-wan asked again. "I am old enough to be a Jedi Knight and I am ready to begin the trials. If there's anything you need to tell Qui-Gon, I'm sure you can tell me."

"Patience, Obi-wan," the elder Jedi said, entering in on the conversation. "You still have much to learn." He then looked at the Doctor's lightsaber. "And just how did you come by that?"

"Made one," the Tenth Doctor replied.

"You are a Jedi, then?" Obi-wan asked.

"Timelord."

At this, Qui-Gon's eyes widened almost imperceptibly and he looked upon the two Doctors with a careful glance, as one studies an ancient and priceless artifact that might just hold the last secrets of the universe.

"I think it is best," he said. "That you don't draw attention to yourselves. When we get to Coruscant, we will inform the Jedi Council of this." The ship suddenly rocked about. "In the meanwhile, we're running the blockade. Stay here."

* * *

**(AN: Loads of story to go, but I think that's a good stop. What do you think about my inclusion of an older companion? ****If you thought I was wibbley wobbley in the last story, it's gonna get even more wobbley in this one. Also, like with the last story, there will be no switching of perspectives. It will stay with the Doctor[s] and the companions. I've also got to get rid of River [NOT kill her, just make her conveniently disappear], because that's how she is: she shows up, raises hell, then leaves [kind of like in "The Angels Take Manhattan" where the Doctor lost the Ponds and she's like 'you need someone to travel with you...but not me -insert trollface here: u mad, sweetie?-'] Also, she has to do something rather important. I don't know, what do you think? [remember to review!])  
**


	6. Tatooine

**(AN: Was re-reading _The Doctor's Star Wars_ and, omg, nobody ever told me of all the grammatical/contextual mistakes I made! Please, point them out! I might be hasty in posting chapters [I only have thirty minutes of laptop life to write down as much as possible, not to mention try in vain to resist the temptation to do other things online], and I welcome your critiques of my grammatical style. So if you see a mistake, please don't hesitate to point it out.)  
**

* * *

**Tatooine**

"Can't believe this!" the Tenth Doctor exclaimed.

The blockade had been successfully ran, thanks in no small part to the astromech repair crew. However, they would not be going anywhere anytime soon, for the hyperdrive was leaking and they would be out of power to make a jump to the Core systems. While the Jedi orchestrated a plan with the Fourth Doctor, the Tenth Doctor was examining the T-14 hyperdrive generator in the engineering room of the ship.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" River asked.

"The battle droids," Ten stated, waving the sonic screwdriver over the hyperdrive. "They must have ripped out the hyperdrive generator."

"Can't you do something about it?" River asked.

"I could use the screwdriver's power to replicate the motivator process," he replied. "But we're talking massive amounts of energy, enough to rip a hole in space and create the hyperspace wormhole. We'd probably burn out somewhere between here and Zaloriis."

"So what should we do?"

"First world we find, stop by, pick up a hyperdrive, continue on to Coruscant," Ten said with an absent-minded tone.

"What about the TARDIS?"

"What about it?"

"Couldn't you tow this ship through space with the TARDIS?"

"TARDIS is in orbit, cloaked," the Tenth Doctor said. "We might be able to..."

Just then the doors opened and the Fourth Doctor walked in with a sullen look on his face and both hands in his pockets.

"What's wrong?" Ten asked.

"We need to speak with the other one," he said, removing the holo-projector and placing it on the ground. They then crowded around the projector as the blue image of the first Doctor appeared.

"Report," the Doctor's holograph said.

"We failed," Four stated. "We've done exactly as you've instructed and we've failed. We're going to Tatooine, against my protests."

"Ah, yes," the Doctor said, pressing his fingers together in a steeple. "Well, it seems that I must intercede on my own."

"But you can't leave Coruscant!" Four reminded. "What about your hunch?"

"Hunch? What hunch?" Ten asked.

"You'll find out soon enough," Four dismissed, turning back to the holograph. A second image appeared, of a middle-aged man with dark hair in a short, bowl-cut. He wore a long black jacket and a cloak as well, with plaited trousers.

"I believe you know my associate," the Doctor said. "He is the mouth-piece, my second regeneration. It seems Professor Song's suggestion had merit. Now, if you'll pardon us, we'll need to borrow the TARDIS and attempt to secure the Master before your arrival."

"Wait, borrow the TARDIS?" Ten asked incredulously. "But we need her!"

"It is my ship, after all," the Doctor said to his oldest counterpart. "You seem to already have one, we are in need. That is all. Good luck."

The image faded.

"Wait, you brought _him_ along as well?" Ten asked River. "Blimey! That's gonna leave a dent in the time stream: four Doctors pulled out of time, all in the same universe. It's lucky the TARDIS had a paradox machine. We'll still have major alterations to consider."

"Yes, that's right," River replied.

* * *

About three days passed before the ship finally reached Tatooine. The Doctors, meanwhile, were going over their plan while they had the few moments of down-time. They were gathered around K9 and R2-D2, the astromech who had saved the ship during the blockade run: the astromech was projecting a holographic image on the ground before them.

"Mos Espa," the Tenth Doctor began, pointing out the city on the holographic image. "We're settling down somewhere outside. It's a space-port, so Professor Song should have no problem finding a ship to ferry her off-system. Now, should we stick with the Jedi or go our own way?"

"I move that we follow the Jedi," Four suggested. "That way, if they encounter Skywalker first, we can gauge the situation."

"Shouldn't have to find him first," Ten said. "Not if Two gets to him before we do."

"Well, we should get a move on, then," Four said, rising to his feet before suddenly halting.

"What's wrong?" Ten asked.

"Do you feel that?" Four queried. "It's so...massive! Like a waterfall in the endless stream of time."

"Yes," Ten stated. "A disturbance in the Force. I think Romana should stay behind."

"I don't think she'll take that lightly," Four commented.

The three of them left, with K9 following on behind and walked out to the loading ramp. There they met Qui-Gon and Obi-wan, both dressed in the rough clothing of moisture farmers. After a few moments of discussion, the Jedi agreed to have the Timelords follow them. This was mostly on the insistence of Qui-Gon: having learned their secrets, he would not let them out of his sight for a moment now.

Down the loading ramp they walked and entered upon a bright desert world with sand in every direction. River shaded her eyes as she stepped out, while the Fourth Doctor removed one scarf and placed it in his pocket. Ten seemed unperturbed by the heat.

"Two suns," River sighed. "Last time I was here, I was under a scarf. Imagine what two suns will do to my complexion!"

"Could be worse," Ten turned back to state. "Could be no sun at all." Then he halted. "Hold on! We've got company."

From the direction of the ship, there appeared Captain Panaka and a girl dressed in plain clothes of gray and blue. They halted as they joined the Jedi and the Tiemlords.

"Her Highness commands that you take her handmaiden with you," Panaka told Qui-Gon.

"No more commands from her Highness today, captain," the Jedi dismissed. "This space-port is not going to be pleasant."

"The Queen wishes it," Panaka insisted. "She is curious about this planet and wants to learn more."

"It's too dangerous..."

"I can take care of myself, master Jedi," the young girl said in her own defense.

"It's not your safety that concerns me," the old Jedi replied. "It is the safety of my padawan."

"But I'm not in any danger!" Obi-wan spoke up.

"This is not a good idea," Qui-Gon sighed, then turned to the handmaid. "Stay close to me."

They made their way slowly out into the desert, with the Timelords and River in the rear. Behind them, Captain Panaka was returning to the ship. Before them, the white dots of the town were appearing on the horizon.

"Master," Obi-wan spoke at last. "Why do you fear for my well-being? I can defend myself!"

"That I know, Obi-wan," the old Jedi replied. "But there are other dangers besides those one can face with a lightsaber."

"Like a young woman?" the handmaid teased.

"I'm not susceptible, master!" Obi-wan retorted. "I know the Jedi Code: a Jedi must not know attachment."

"Is that all you find in me, young Jedi?" the young woman asked. "A distraction?"

"Mere distraction would be the least of your faults, handmaid," Obi-wan retorted.

The young woman made a face, but said nothing. She then slacked her pace and joined the Timelords in the back.

"Padme, right?" Ten asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"Would you like a jelly baby?" Four offered.

* * *

**(AN: Okay, things will definitely be different, as you've obviously noticed with Obi-wan going with Qui-Gon and Padme to Tatooine. We're at about chapter six, so the next one is going to be a longer chapter. Sorry I couldn't come up with better banter between Obi-wan and Padme.)**


	7. The Master

**(AN: Another edit you are about to see, this one [or few] based on _belatedmedia_'s treatment. Personally, it doesn't matter how old Anakin is and I don't see why people get annoyed at that. Kids don't know what's cool or not, so a nine-year-old kid isn't going to act like a cynical 40-year-old hipster. Doesn't matter. But the building C-3PO thing strains credulity, especially since we've already seen in Episode I that other protocol droids exist and a translator really isn't the best choice to help his mother. Also, though there are NO midi-chlorians, the virgin birth thing is being kept, here's why.)  
**

**(People say that it's wrong because it's too much like the Judeo-Christian tradition, like there's not enough spiritual/mythological references throughout the _Star Wars_ saga as it is. Also, there are virgin birth heroes throughout other spiritual traditions, so I have no problem with it there. From the point of this story...well, in case you haven't figured it out, you'll find out eventually.)  
**

* * *

**The Master**

"Good day to you," the winged, blue Toydarian greeted as they walked into the junk shop. Obi-wan and Padme stood near the back of the room, while Qui-Gon spoke to the blue thing. For the time travelers, they heard exactly what the alien was saying, even though he was speaking in Huttese. "What do you want?"

"I need parts for a J-Type 327 Nubian," Qui-Gon stated. While they continued talking, the Tenth Doctor looked over his shoulder and noticed a short man outside, waving at him.

"Oi, watch how things turn out," Ten said to Four. "I think our contact just dropped in."

The lanky, short-haired Doctor made his way out of the junk shop with River following on behind. Just outside, they saw the second Doctor, just as they had seen him in the holograph.

"Well well well," smiled the Tenth Doctor. "Nice to see a familiar face."

"Unfortunately, I bring bad news," the younger Doctor said. "I jumped back a week or so and tried to free Skywalker, just to get him off-world before you arrived. But it's not as easy as it sounds. That Toydarian, his master Watto, wouldn't get rid of him for anything."

"No worries, then," Ten said. "We'll just make sure he doesn't leave." He turned to River, but saw her walking away.

"Oi!" he called out. "Where are you off to?"

"Got to find the TARDIS," River replied, winking at the Doctor and blowing him a kiss before turning around and walking off.

"No!" exclaimed the younger Doctor. "I don't care if you are my future wife, no one pilots the TARDIS but me!" The shorter Doctor ran after River, while Ten smiled fondly and turned back into the shade of the junk shop.

It was then that he discovered a young man dressed in simple clothes chatting with Padme. Whatever they were saying seemed to make her happy, and she laughed. The young man looked at the Doctor and in his blue eyes the Doctor saw something that made him quiver. The face was innocent enough for a teenager, whose life had been roughened by slavery, but there was something else in his eyes as well.

"I sense a great disturbance in the Force," Qui-Gon whispered to nearby Obi-wan. The Doctor, meanwhile, looked over and listened intently to what they were saying.

"You do?" Obi-wan asked.

"I've never felt a disturbance so powerful before," Qui-Gon stated.

"When did it happen?"

"When the boy walked into the shop," Qui-Gon nodded at the young man chatting up the handmaid. "Surely you've noticed it."

"Well, yes." Obi-wan replied.

"I've never felt such a presence among the Jedi," the older one said. "Not even Master Yoda." He gently stroked his beard. "I should like to take him to Coruscant and train him as a Jedi. It's possible..."

"But you can't take on a second padawan!" Obi-wan stated. "The Code forbids it and..."

"Yes?"

"I don't feel right about being replaced just yet."

"Don't let your personal feelings get in the way of your better judgment, Obi-wan." the older Jedi chastised. "A Jedi does not know attachment. Think on that."

"Yes, master." Obi-wan sighed, hanging his head for a while.

"Boy, follow me!" Watto the Toydarian grumbled. "Outlander, let me take you out back. We'll find what you're looking for."

Qui-Gon followed Watto and the young man to the back of the junk shop while Obi-wan walked off on his own out the other end. Padme and the Doctor slowly made their way after him as he went down one of the dusty roads of the town. The older one looked back and saw the Fourth one give him the thumbs up. Ten turned about and walked on down the road after Obi-wan, hands in his pockets while Padme walked at his side.

"Doctor," she said, turning to the Timelord. "I saw what you did, in the hangar on Naboo. I've never seen anyone with a lightsaber who wasn't a Jedi."

"Let's just say, for all intents and purposes, I am a Jedi," the Doctor replied, reminding himself that they still had a cover, one which was weakening under Qui-Gon's suspicion.

"You don't look like a Jedi," she stated.

"And you don't look like a handmaiden," the Doctor replied.

"What makes you say that?" she asked in retort.

"You don't walk like someone who's a servant," the Doctor said. "Plus, your accent is horrible. Typical Naboo Basic, with a bit of a southern flair. Rather far away from Theed, to be honest. There's only one family I know of that moved from that region to Theed about the same time..."

Padme gasped. "Who are you?"

"Exactly," the Doctor smiled.

"You know more than you should," she retorted.

"I know everything," the Doctor said in a matter-of-fact tone. "But more importantly..." He leaned down and whispered something in Padme's ear. "But don't worry, your secret's safe with me."

"I don't know if I can trust you," she worried.

"Yeah, of course you can." the Doctor replied, then turned to an open-air pub nearby. "Although, I think we're in for a little bit of trouble here."

The Doctor watched as a preoccupied Obi-wan bumped into a Dug, which then growled in Huttese and knocked him off his feet. As he was about to attack, Padme took out a small blaster and shot at the sand at the Dug's foot.

"Walk away," she said, aiming the blaster at the Dug's head. "Or the next one's going between your eyes."

The Dug growled at Obi-wan, then walked off as Padme pocketed her blaster. She walked over to Obi-wan and helped him up to his feet.

"Thank you," he said, dusting off his poncho. "Please, don't tell my master about this. He'll never let me hear the end of it."

"Don't worry, young Jedi," Padme smiled. "He won't hear it from me. But I'm surprised you didn't do anything: I saw what you did in the hangar."

"We're under cover," Obi-wan said. "We can't be drawing out our lightsabers all the time, we don't want to attract attention."

"Right," she replied. Then, one by one, they turned to the Doctor.

"What?" he asked. "Don't look at me, I don't condone violence. A lightsaber is a Jedi's weapon but they're supposed to use it at the very last moment. And blasters are just like any kind of guns: messy and uncivilized."

"My thoughts exactly, Doctor," Obi-wan stated.

"Well that uncivilized weapon just saved your life," Padme reminded Obi-wan.

"And I'm very grateful for your intervention," he reminded her. "But it won't happen again."

Just then, a teenager came running up down the street towards them. He stopped in front of them and for a moment, the Doctor's smile fell. There he was, Anakin Skywalker, the one who had killed him. But he saw his face and, while he saw only the eyes of Skywalker, he noticed there was something else in those eyes, something that shook him to the core.

"Excuse me," the young man said. "Uh, your friends asked me to find you. They said they're done, they're waiting for you at the shop."

"Thank you," Obi-wan nodded, and Padme flashed him a smile. The Doctor, however, remained grim.

"Uh, if I might ask, do you have shelter?"

"Shelter?" asked the Doctor.

"Yeah, for the storm," he gestured to the horizon, where a tiny, sand-colored haze was gathering on the end. "Sand storms can be dangerous."

"We'll head back to our ship." Obi-wan stated.

"Is it far?"

"On the outskirts." Padme replied.

"You'll never reach it in time," the young man told them. "If you don't mind, you should stay at my house. My mum wouldn't mind, I think."

"Thank you, young man," Padme smiled at him. "If I may ask, what's your name?"

"Anakin," the youth replied. "Anakin Skywalker."

* * *

**(AN: Yeah, multi-Doctor fics can be confusing, but I'll try to give every one of them adequate screen-time [or page-time, as that may go], and the next chapter is bound to be very long.)**

**(As far as Anakin, I don't know how he should look. He's obviously a bit older than Jake Lloyd, but I don't think he should look like John Simms [he appeared at the end of _The Doctor's Star Wars_, but I'm thinking he shouldn't appear in this one, for reasons you'll later see]. I don't know, maybe Hayden, but I keep getting horrible mental images of wooden acting from _Revenge of the Sith_ when I think about him.)  
**

**(Anywho, with considerations in mind, I'm gonna start working on this story with a vengeance and maybe seeing a little bit more updates to some chapters, as the school year has ended and the world isn't ending [not this day!]. I'm also thinking about starting a stand-alone fic about the Last Great Time War. I think I could pull it off, should I?)  
**


	8. The Doctor's Plan

**(AN: As you can see, we're almost at ten chapters and we haven't even gotten to _AOTC_ yet. So I'm gonna condense a lot into this chapter, hopefully to get it all down without dragging the story out and making it boring. Also, I've watched "Genesis of the Daleks" from Four's adventures, and thought that what you're about to see in this mini story-arc is interesting. I wonder that the writers of _Doctor Who_ haven't tried exploring that as well.)  
**

* * *

**The Doctor's Plan**

The slave houses were not hard to find, even as the travelers started getting blasted by sand. They made their way to the house which Anakin had directed them to, while the others followed on behind one after the other. Only the Fourth Doctor was able to avoid much sand being blown into his face, by reason of his many scarfs. At last, when it seemed that they would be walking forever in a sandstorm, they came to a two-story building in what looked like the Projects of Mos Espa, through which door Anakin passed through.

"Mom, I'm home!" the young man called out as he brushed the sand off his clothes.

"Cozy," the oldest Doctor said, examining the house.

A middle-aged woman appeared from down a hall that terminated in the main room. She had dark hair, tied tightly behind her head, and her skin had been tanned by the exposure to the suns of Tatooine.

"These are my friends, Mum," Anakin said, introducing the newcomers to his mother.

"I'm Qui-Gon Jinn," the old Jedi said. "This is Obi-wan Kenobi, a friend of mine."

"I'm the Doctor, and so is he," Four stated, pointing to Ten before he began rummaging through his pockets for something.

"Your son was kind enough to offer us shelter," Qui-Gon said to the young man's mother.

"You're welcome to stay here, if you wish," the boy's mother said. "I'm preparing supper, it should be ready in ten or fifteen minutes. Ani!"

"Come on, mother!" Anakin protested. "It's Anakin, not Ani! I'm not nine anymore."

His mother rolled her eyes. "Come and help me in here, Anakin. I can prepare supper faster if I have some help."

"Coming, mother." Anakin said, following on after her. He turned back to the guests. "Please, make yourselves comfortable. It won't take long."

There were not any sofas about, so they stood about and listened for a while to the howling wind outside. While the two Jedi were together, the Doctors gathered together while Padme listened sheepishly to what they were saying.

"So, what happened?" Ten asked.

"Watto wouldn't part with the hyperdrive generator without a huge amount of money," Four said. "Unfortunately, they don't have electronic currency out here, so we'll need cash."

"What about the plan?" Ten queried.

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, _we're_ stuck here too, thanks to your wife," Four sighed. "The Jedi will most likely try to get back to Coruscant, so we might as well help them, even if it is going against our plan." He dug his hands back into his pockets and began searching.

"What are you looking for? Jelly babies?"

"Something I just picked up," Four replied. "I know where they're at."

"Still, I have an idea," Ten said.

"Let's hear it."

"Above all else, we have to prevent the Master from becoming a Jedi," Ten began. "Without the Force, we might be able to extract the Master's essence from him. But if all else fails, we should try to retrain the Master."

"Retrain?"

"Think about it," Ten suggested. "He's used the chameleon arch, he has no recollection of his life as the Master. Here we have the perfect opportunity to re-educate him, teach him to love life, not power. It would be fantastic, seeing a redeemed Master..."

"Traveling with you across the stars," Four finished. "It's an intriguing proposition, but still, this is the Master we're talking about. He's so dangerous that even Rassilion never sanctioned his actions. At best, we should keep him on this world, at worst..."

"No," Ten shook his head. "I'm sorry, but we're not going that far."

* * *

They were sitting down to supper, eating and drinking in relative peace as Anakin's mother, Shmi Skywalker, described for them the life of a slave. While she was discussing, Four removed his bag of jelly babies and placed them in one of the plastic bowls Shmi had on the table, offering them to everyone. He placed the empty bag back into his pockets and began once again rummaging through his bags for something he had forgotten.

"I can't believe there's still slavery in the galaxy," Padme spoke up. "The Republic's anti-slavery laws..."

"The Republic doesn't exist out here," Shmi interjected. "We must survive on our own."

"Things will change, though," Anakin spoke up. "Once the Jedi come here."

"What makes you say that?" Ten asked.

"I've heard the stories about the Jedi, fantastic stories about bravery, honor, self-sacrifice," the young man said. "They're the guardians of peace and justice. Once they hear about what's going on here, they'll bring an end to slavery in the galaxy."

There was a grim silence, broken only by the clanking utensils. Shmi finally spoke.

"So, what brings you out here?" she asked Qui-Gon.

"We're on our way to Coruscant, the central system of the Republic," the old Jedi replied. "On a very important mission."

"You're a Jedi, aren't you?" Anakin interjected.

"What makes you say that?" Qui-Gon chuckled.

"I saw your lightsaber on your belt," the young man said. "According to the stories, only Jedi carry lightsabers."

"Perhaps I killed a Jedi and took it from him?" Qui-Gon suggested.

Anakin chuckled. "No one can kill a Jedi."

"I wish that were so," Qui-Gon said grimly.

Anakin turned to Obi-wan. "Tatooine's a long way away from the bright center of the galaxy. How did you end up here?"

"Our ship was damaged," Obi-wan replied. "We're stranded here until we can repair it."

"Maybe I could help?" Anakin offered.

"First we must acquire the parts we need," Qui-Gon stated.

"And we're broke," Ten added.

"These junk dealers must have a weakness of some kind," Padme mused out-loud.

"Gambling," Shmi replied. "Everything around here revolves around wagers, from dejarik to those awful podraces."

"Oh, that reminds me!" Four exclaimed. He dug one hand into his pocket so deeply that it made Anakin look at him suspiciously. Out of it he produced a holo-flier. The headline was in Aurebesh, which translated for the time-travelers as _Boonta Eve Classic: the Largest Podrace Event on Tatooine. _Below was the date and several instructions about entries, which were open until the day of the race: tomorrow.

Anakin looked over the flier, then passed it to Qui-Gon, who seemed rather intrigued and looked ever so often at Anakin, and then back at Obi-wan.

"Would you excuse us, please?" Qui-Gon asked. Shmi acquiesced and he and Obi-wan left the table and walked into the hall to continue talking. Ten, meanwhile, was using his sonic screwdriver to record the conversation. He would play it back once Four and he were dismissed.

* * *

The storm had abated about an hour after supper, and while the suns were still up, the Jedi went back to Watto's junk shop to make their plans for the race. The Doctors, meanwhile, walked about by themselves on the streets of the town. They had things to discuss among themselves as well.

"Where d'you get that?" Ten asked.

"The flier?" Four queried. "Oh, I saw it in Watto's shop, picked it up because I thought it might be important. Turns out it is, according to the timeline. But I had to take it, because the timeline's disruption. This Anakin has little mechanical skill."

"Just as well," Ten replied, scratching the back of his head. "Never really believed that story about him building C-3PO. I mean, who would build a translator droid as a personal assistant to a slave?" He looked over at his younger counterpart. "What if that flier was a bad idea?"

"What do you mean?"

"Listen to this," Ten brought out his sonic screwdriver and pressed a button.

_...seems to have come in the nick of time,_ Qui-Gon's voice came from the sonic screwdriver. _This is the perfect opportunity to test my theory._

_If you would listen to my council, master,_ Obi-wan's voice replied. _This is too risky. Besides, I don't think the boy's mother will let him to do it._

_He's old enough to know the risks involved,_ the older Jedi said.

_But what if this plan fails, master?_ Obi-wan asked._We could be stuck here a very long time._

_Well, it's obviously too dangerous to call for help,_ replied Qui-Gon. _And a ship without a power supply isn't going to get us anywhere._

"See?" Ten asked.

"But this is supposed to happen!" Four argued.

"In the original timeline," Ten replied. "But time has been altered here, and we can't be sure about what may or may not happen."

"Still, I agree with the Jedi," Four stated. "We help them for now, if only to leave this world."

* * *

It was late evening. The Doctor and Four were idling on the roof of the slave quarters. Nearby, Qui-Gon Jinn was meditating while Padme, Obi-wan and Anakin were stargazing. Tomorrow was the day of the race, and it was going to be close. From what the Jedi had told them, Watto's racer had been injured in a bar-fight and Qui-Gon was able to convince the Toydarian to allow Anakin to pilot the pod, though he had little to no experience with it. Then the wager was made: Watto didn't seem willing to allow this arrangement to take place, so Qui-Gon appealed to his greed. Wagering the ship against the cost to the parts needed and Anakin, the Jedi was able to broker a deal. If they win, they would have their parts and Anakin would be free.

If they lost, they could be stuck here for a very long time.

"Tomorrow is when it all happens," Ten said, both hands firmly crossed over his chest.

"You don't think he can do it?" Four queried.

"Oh, I have no doubt," Ten replied. "Timelords have always been open to the Force, as are humans: even without the Master's memories, Anakin Skywalker is very powerful. Still, though, it doesn't make sense."

"What do you mean?"

"How he could be the Master," Ten began. "I mean, there's been absolutely nothing, no changes in mood, no identifiable markings, no fob watches. Now I'm starting to wonder if we were wrong in the first place."

"But a Timelord is never wrong," Four replied.

"Yeah, I know I hate being wrong," Ten admitted. "Still, I've got to keep an open mind about some things, or else I'd never learn anything."

"We'll know tomorrow," Four said. "From what I know about these kinds of races, humans are physically incapable of flying one of those pods. If he wins, and the timeline says he will, we'll know."

"Know what?"

"That he is more than human."

"But Anakin could fly the podrace," Ten replied. "Because he was strong in the Force. He was using it without knowing what it was. His victory won't prove one way or another that he's the Master."

"Then keep your eyes open," Four stated. He walked off, scouring his pockets for jelly babies. Ten, meanwhile, walked over to Obi-wan, who had parted with Padme and Anakin.

"What's on your mind?" Ten asked.

"Hmm? Oh, it's this race," Obi-wan mused. "The battle is on Naboo, and that's where I want to be. We'll need to get off this planet first, and this boy is our only hope, or so my master believes. But he wants to train him in my stead!"

"You'll be fine," Ten stated. "You're almost a Jedi Knight yourself."

"Thank you," Obi-wan replied. "If I may ask you something: who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor."

"But what does that mean?" the young Jedi asked. "And what about what you said you were, a Timelord. I saw my master, he was very concerned when he heard the news. What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure," Ten replied. "Never been one on prophecies, so I'm not sure if you Jedi have anything about the return of the Timelords."

"The future has always been something I've found uncertain," Obi-wan began. "Master Yoda, who first taught me, said that I should be mindful of the future, but not at the expense of the moment. He said that the future was always in motion, and so most prophecies could be rewritten. But there was one that always confused me: it's the prophecy of the One who will bring balance to the Force. I think my master believes this boy is the One, but I don't understand what it could be. Balance to the Force? There haven't been any dark side warriors in over a thousand years: is not the Force already in balance?"

"All in due time," Ten stated. "For now, though, you should get some sleep, or meditate, or whatever you Jedi do between the night-hours. Tomorrow's a big day."

"May the Force be with us," Obi-wan said as he left. Secretly, the Doctor wondered which it was that he hoped for: that the Master win the race or that he would lose. If he lost, they would be stuck there for a very long time. If he won... His hand reached into his pocket and he realized that he had something else in there that was the same size and shape as his lightsaber. He took it out and examined it in the poor light. It _was_ a lightsaber. He reached into his other pocket and pulled out the other one, touching them together for a brief moment as a shower of sparks crashed from the metal cylinder.

It was the same exact one.

* * *

Victory! Anakin had won the race and they were all in great spirits. True enough, those had been dampened by the fact that Anakin would now have to leave his mother, but it also meant that they would be leaving. The Doctors went on ahead with Padme and Obi-wan back to the ship with the parts they needed on an eopie, a camel-like creature native to this side of Tatooine. Padme went back to the Queen to report her findings while Obi-wan and Romana took the hyperdrive generator to the engine room to get it installed. The two Doctors, meanwhile, stayed outside for a while.

"How do you suppose this got here?" Ten asked, presenting his younger counterpart with the duplicate lightsaber.

"I think I recall your wife slipping in one of your pockets yesterday, while we were entering Watto's shop," Four stated. "But that's hardly of great concern at the moment: the Jedi's going to bring the boy with us."

"Yes, I know," Ten replied. "We'll have to accelerate our plans."

"Once we're on board," Four said. "I'll contact Coruscant. We need to tell him about this."

"What do you think he'll..."

But there was no time for the Doctor to finish his sentence, as a sudden shriek was heard and an explosion. Mere meters away, they saw a figure in black with a crimson energy blade dueling with Qui-Gon. Though the Jedi was skilled in the use of his blade, he was no match for an opponent who was also trained with a lightsaber. For a thousand years, the Jedi had gone without an enemy against whom their saber training was put to the test. Would the old Jedi be able to survive this new assault?

* * *

**(AN: Yay! I promised you length, but I really didn't want to go through with the podrace. If you want to see that, just watch the movie and mute it every time they cut away from the actual race [or you'll want to throw the remote at Jar Jar and end up breaking your TV screen]. As far as this story goes, nothing different happens. Maybe Anakin's pod doesn't stall before he leaves, because I thought that was just stupid. After all, Obi-wan said to Luke in _Jedi_, and I quote, "When I first met him, your father was already a great pilot..." Now, what great pilot would let _that_ happen to his pod? Of course, if you want that, you can always say that the Doctor [one of them, at least] used his screwdriver to make a quick-fix from the stands. I personally wouldn't: there's a fan-pic on google-images of Eleven shutting off Darth Vader's lightsaber, and I don't want that to happen in these fics. There need to be limits to what the sonic screwdriver can do, and saying that all lightsaber components are wooden doesn't seem credible either. There needs to be some kind of challenge here, you know!)**

**(Also, while I don't mean to disparage against Qui-Gon's lightsaber skills, it makes sense that the Jedi, having spent a thousand years believing the Sith were dead and gone, would have lost some of their saber combat skills, especially against other saber duelists. That's just natural atrophy, which happens to the _Star Trek_ universe with their ridiculous phasers and nonexistent combat training [see stardestroyer-.-net for more info]. New update should come soon, hopefully.)  
**


	9. Coruscant

**(AN: Don't you just love writer's prerogative? You get to make whatever edits to the story without any kind of rationale at all! Lol, but I give rationale for my use of writer's prerogative [which is not frequent, because I do respect the source material a bit]. For this chapter, I thought I'd use such in order to deviate both from _Kelvington_'s parody. Mostly because having the Timelords controlling the Senate doesn't do much for the progression of the _Star Wars_ timeline, especially concerning a certain character named [-spoilers, sweetie!-].)  
**

**(Okay, I swear I'll be done ranting, but I just have one more thing to say. Padme in the prequels is purported to be this strong female lead, but I think she just comes off as naive and easily manipulated, especially in Episode I. She's naive enough to believe the Federation would never resort to war [and we know they do], or even prepare her people to defend themselves, and she's easily manipulated in that she played right into [-spoilers removed-]'s plot by her no confidence vote in the Chancellor. One could say that it was [you know who], but he's not all powerful. Most of his attention was to keep the Jedi in the dark [more on that later], and that he orchestrates things with his non-Force powers in order to defame the Jedi and boost his approval rating [I will definitely spend more time on _Revenge of the Sith_]. To that end, I won't elaborate on the Senate meeting: all you need to know is that she goes, she doesn't get the support she needs and decides to go back to Naboo.)  
**

**(So, without further ado, here we go!)  
**

* * *

**Coruscant**

"Go!" Qui-Gon shouted to Anakin in between blows with this dark-clad warrior. "Tell them to take off."

Anakin ran past the two Timelords, who each of them drew their blades, ready to jump in if it seemed that Qui-Gon would not survive. They knew just how hard it would be for a Jedi of this era to fight against a fully-trained dark side warrior, since fighting against lightsaber-wielding opponents was no longer being taught in the Jedi Temple. So they kept their lightsabers at the ready, in case something happened.

But there was no need. Moments later, the sleek, silver ship pulled up behind them and the Jedi and two Timelords climbed aboard the loading ramp and back onto the ship. Behind them the ramp was closed before they could be pursued.

"Are you alright?" Anakin asked Qui-Gon as he helped him up to his feet.

"Yes, I'm fine," Qui-Gon assured.

"What was that thing?" Obi-wan queried.

"A Zabrak, I believe," the older Jedi said. "He was well-trained in the Jedi arts. My guess is that he was after the Queen."

"You don't think it could be..."

"Perhaps," Qui-Gon stated. "The tales in the Jedi Archives speak of the powers of the Sith Lords: they could obscure the far-sight of even the most powerful Jedi. The last recorded Sith was Darth Bane, who created the Rule of Two: that the Sith should number only two. Whichever this one was, I can't tell."

"What should we do?" Anakin asked.

"We should be patient," Qui-Gon sighed. "The answers will come in time, especially once we reach the Jedi Council on Coruscant."

The two Jedi left the room to report to the Queen, while the Doctors went to a storage compartment at the back of the ship with Anakin. The ship shook a bit as the artificial gravity was being activated, and they sat down upon some crates while the Fourth Doctor produced the holo-vid projector and pressed it on. The image of the youngest - yet oldest-looking - Doctor appeared between them.

"I take it you have something important to report?" the Doctor asked his younger-looking counterparts.

"He's left Tatooine," Ten said. "Professor Song stole the TARDIS and we had to follow the timeline. We're on our way to Coruscant."

"This changes everything," the Doctor replied. "I want you to prevent the boy from being trained, at any costs."

"Any costs?" repeated Four.

"Are you really as dense as you look?" the Doctor retorted. "Yes, at any costs! If it comes down to it, I want you to keep the Jedi from leaving Coruscant, or at least from taking Anakin to the Jedi Temple. Use any means necessary, even force, if it comes to it. Goodbye."

The image disappeared and the two Timelords were left pondering what this would mean. Too much damage to the timeline was already happening, and now the TARDIS was gone and with it, the paradox machine. If they made any more or greater paradoxes, they would not be protected from the consequences. Minutes passed and behind them appeared Padme, in the orange robes of the handmaids. She watched a holograph of Governor Bibble explaining the horrible conditions on Naboo, concluding with his pleas to the Queen that she contact him. She then turned to Anakin, who was now sitting with his arms wrapped around his knees in a corner.

"Watch this," Four whispered to Ten. They turned to see as she found a blanket from one of the cargo crates and wrapped him in it. They shared a few words, and then they saw something that made them certain they were on the right path.

"I have something for you," Anakin said. He removed from his pocket a tiny silver device: a fob watch. Two pairs of eyes exploded to even bigger sizes than normal.

It _was_ the Master!

* * *

Within hours, thanks to the new and fully functional hyperdrive generator, the ship had reached Coruscant and the two Timelords awaited their landing, along with the others, with nervous anticipation. They knew what had to happen, and they were running out of time. The two looked over at each other, nodded, then swallowed hard as the loading ramp lowered. First the Queen walked down, flanked by her handmaidens and Captain Panaka and the royal guards. Behind them came the Jedi and the Timelords, with Anakin walking behind the Doctors.

Waiting for them was a cadre of the Supreme Chancellor's guards, and two elderly gentlemen in affluent robes waiting them.

"Welcome, Your Highness," one of the men greeted. "I am Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum. It's an honor to finally meet you in person."

"Thank you, Supreme Chancellor," the Queen replied.

"I've called a special session of the Senate to hear your case," the Chancellor stated. "Frankly, I can't tell you how concerned I am about the developments on Naboo. I hope this meeting will resolve your crisis."

"I'm grateful for your concern, Chancellor," the Queen stated.

The other man walked over to the Jedi and began talking with them in hushed tones. The Doctors looked over at him, then back to each other. The concern in their eyes was growing. They turned back to the Jedi, who were leading Anakin down towards an air-taxi that had arrived. While they were there, the Doctors saw the handmaid Padme gesture for Anakin to follow them. Ten looked back at Four and the other one nodded as they joined the Jedi in the air-taxi.

It would be easier now.

The air-taxi took off and they were now flying high among the towering skyscrapers - literal ones, reminding the Doctor of Gallifrey - of Coruscant. But their attention was not on the towering buildings, but on the air-taxi and how high up they were. Below a broad walk-way connected two buildings on either side of their path. Four looked over at Ten and nodded. The oldest Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it inconspicuously at the controls of the air-taxi.

In a few short moments, the air-taxi crashed into the catwalk. The Timelords, who could survive a simple collision, jumped out at the last moment. The Jedi, however, used their powers of the Force to leap from the crashing air-taxi and land on the catwalk. Qui-Gon turned to the Jedi while Obi-wan activated his lightsaber.

"Alright, Doctor, explain yourself." the older Jedi said.

"Listen," Ten said, standing up and holding his hand out in a gesture of parlay. "You need to think this through. You can't train Anakin, he's not what he seems."

"What is the meaning of this?" Qui-Gon asked.

"This is your last chance," Ten replied, his hand pulling something out of his pocket. "'Cuz if you go through with this, then I'm gonna have to stop you."

"How?" Obi-wan asked.

"There's something you should know about Timelords, Obi-wan," Ten said to the younger Jedi as his other hand reached into his pocket and pulled out the other thing. He activated them, and two electric blue blades sprang to life.

"The Timelords taught the Whills how to use the Force."

Behind him, the Fourth Doctor removed a device from one of his dimensionally transcendental pockets and it sprung to life as well: an emerald blade. In response, Qui-Gon activated his lightsaber. For a moment they were at a stand-off, with none of them ready to make the first move.

"Do you really intend to fight us here?" Qui-Gon asked. "The Jedi Temple is a few kilometers away, they will sense this and they will come to our aid. As powerful as you might be, you will be outnumbered."

Ten came to a halt for a moment: he had been forced to regenerate after his encounter with Darth Vader. That was just one Jedi, a Sith Lord, and barely half-human (if not half-Timelord). Now he would be up against potentially hundreds of Jedi Knights. Despite their handicap from a millennium without fighting opponents with lightsabers, sheer numbers would win out against only two Timelords.

Obi-wan attacked first, but Ten kept himself defended with his lightsabers. Qui-Gon joined in from one side, and now Ten was fending off two enemies at once. The older Jedi held out his hand, sending the Doctor stumbling off his feet. One lightsaber came down upon him, and the Fourth Doctor's blade met theirs. Ten used the momentum to rise back to his feet and return to the battle. Over and over, the four of them rained powerful blows upon the other, which were gracefully parried or deflected. For one moment, it seemed as though they were evenly matched. Then suddenly there was a voice heard, the voice of one the Doctors knew.

"Stop this madness!" Romana shouted.

The Jedi gave her a quick glance, but turned their attention back to the fight. They were not responsible for one handmaiden leaving the side of her Queen. But that disregard was not the right choice either. The sound of a lightsaber being drawn was heard and the Doctors turned to look, as did the others. Though they were engaged in a fight, the Jedi Code of battle did not allow one to strike an opponent distracted during battle. Nevertheless, what was important enough to draw away their enemies' attention would doubtless be worthy of at least more than a second glance.

Standing on the catwalk was the handmaid in her orange robes, but in her hand was a lightsaber. Its blade was magenta, utilizing the rarest and most priceless of focusing crystals: these no longer existed in the galaxy, limiting the Jedi's weapons to either blue or green focusing crystals.

"As I was saying," Romana interjected, once she noticed their eyes were on her. "This is neither the time nor place for a fight." She looked over at the Doctors. "Very subtle, by the way. No way makes yourself an enemy of the Jedi than drawing your lightsaber on them."

"But..." Four began.

"You have to forgive them, Master Jedi," Romana said to Qui-Gon. "I have no doubt when you have presented the boy before the council, you will see that my friends' actions are justified, albeit premature and unwarranted."

"Don't believe them, Master," Obi-wan said in an aside.

"Use your feelings, Obi-wan," the older Jedi said, deactivating his blade. "There's something else at work here. The appearance of the Timelords should be brought before the Council before any judgment is passed based on their actions." He turned to Romana. "Though, I must ask, handmaid, which side are you on? You wield a lightsaber: are you a Jedi or...?"

"I'm a Timelord," she replied. "Why I have a lightsaber is unimportant. All I ask is that you..." She turned to the Doctors. "_And_ you, refrain from this kind of action again until we've spoken with the Jedi Council. Can we agree at least on that?"

One by one, they deactivated their lightsabers.

"Now," Romana said. "Let's see if we can hail an air-taxi."

* * *

The Jedi Temple. It's five spires stood out among the buildings about it, like a monument to the ancient and indomitable Jedi order. Inside the Temple, in one of the lifts that would take them to the main council chamber at the top of the center spire, the Jedi and the Doctors were making their way to the council. After they had arrived, they found that Anakin had been brought this way for his formal introduction to the Jedi.

At the top of the spire, Qui-Gon left Obi-wan and the Timelords in the outer room while he entered the council chamber to give his debriefing to the Jedi Council. Anakin stood in between the Doctors, who kept their eyes fixed on him. They were so close to failing that they had to be here in person. Romana, however, looked upon this with disapproval. She had left once they reached the Temple in order to retrieve Anakin, and reminded them not to be doing anymore ridiculously stupid actions.

"Remember," she had said before she left. "You're in the heart of the Jedi Temple. They won't hesitate to punish you if you step out of line again."

The Timelords dismissed this openly but kept her words in mind. All their plans to keep Anakin away from the Jedi had failed. They were now so close to failing that caution was necessary. But then again, so was action.

As they were waiting, the doors of the lift opened and one of the two old men who had met the Queen on the landing appeared. This one, though richly adorned as the former, wore a smile on his face. Not an overconfident smile of arrogance, but one that assured them that everything was alright, that he could be trusted.

"Greetings, Senator Palpatine," Obi-wan greeted with a slight inclination of his head.

"The same to you, Master Jedi," the old man said. "Obi-wan Kenobi, I believe. Where is Yoda? I have heard disturbing news concerning the happenings on Naboo, I should report to him about it."

"He's not here," Obi-wan replied. "He's been abroad lately, aiding the Republic outside of Coruscant."

"Such it is with Master Yoda," Palpatine said with a smile. "Ceaseless in his defense of the weak and helpless." He then turned to the young man between the Doctors.

"I remember you on the landing platform," Palpatine said. "Though I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting you, young man."

"I'm Anakin Skywalker," the youth greeted.

"Come to the Temple to be trained as a Jedi, I believe," Palpatine commented, then looked aside at Obi-wan. "I take it that decision does not sit well with you, Master Kenobi."

The young Jedi and the old senator walked back and began talking quietly among themselves. While they spoke, however, Qui-Gon left the council chamber and turned towards the Timelords.

"Master Windu has requested that you appear before the Council at once," he said.

"Right," Ten nodded, then he and Four walked into the chamber of the Jedi Council.

All at once, they were assaulted, it seemed, by a dozen presences in their heads. The Jedi were attempting to read their thoughts through the Force: but what they had failed to realize was that the Timelords were harder to read than most other races, and, powerful in the Force as well, they could block their attempts to see through them.

"Welcome to the Jedi Council," a deep voice greeted. The Timelords turned and saw an elderly man with short-cropped white hair and a white beard sitting in one of the chairs of the council. "Qui-Gon told us you were Timelords..."

"Yes, that's right," Four said. "And might I ask who you are?"

"This is Master Dooku," a bald, dark-skinned man said. "One of the most respected members of the Council, second only to Master Yoda."

"Oh, my bad," Four shrugged. "Now, how shall this interrogation commence?"

"This is not an interrogation," a woman spoke. "We only wish to speak with you peacefully and hear your purpose from your own lips."

"Master Gallia is right," an alien with a white beard and a tall head added.

"You are strong with the Force," a mechanical voice said. The two Timelords turned to a Kel Dor, whose atmospheric mask distorted his voice. "Yet you do not wear the robes of a Jedi."

"Present your lightsabers," the dark-skinned man ordered.

Four brought out his and Ten one of his. The Kel Dor Jedi Master held out his hand and summoned the lightsabers onto his lap. With his clawed hands he examined the lightsabers one by one.

"Your findings, Master Koon?" the tall-headed one asked.

"These lightsabers are of sturdy make and durable," Master Koon said. "Indeed, they are of such skill that only a fully-trained Jedi Knight could have made these."

"Of course we made these!" Four interjected. "Did you think we would come along peacefully to your little Jedi powwow quietly if we had taken these from slain Jedi?"

"Silence," Master Dooku commanded. "You seem to have the skills of a Jedi, as far as the proper construction of a lightsaber, and an advanced use of the Force." He turned to the dark-skinned man. "Master Windu, your opinion on the Master is?"

"I think we should commence with the question at hand," Master Windu turned to the Timelords. "Master Qui-Gon said that you were Timelords."

At these words, some of the Jedi cast uneasy glances at each other.

"Yes, he was correct," Four replied. "We are, both of us, Timelords."

"Master Yoda should have been here," a woman with a peaceful expression on her face interjected. "As the senior member of our council, he could have divined the truth of their statement."

"I agree, Master Billaba," Master Windu stated. "Nevertheless, we have one more matter to address." He turned to the Timelords. "Qui-Gon told us that you and your...companion..."

"Excuse me," Ten spoke up. "Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but I'm not his companion. I'm him, well, from the future."

Once again more murmurs and uneasy glances filled the Jedi Council.

"Nevertheless," the tall-headed Jedi Master said. "Your actions must needs be answered: tell us now why you attacked two members of the Jedi Order."

Ten stepped forward and spoke.

"First, let me ask you something, though," he began.

"We are asking you the questions," Master Dooku retorted.

"But if you will allow, permit and indulge me," Ten continued. "To ask this one question, just this one, I can give you a satisfactory answer."

"Ask your question." Master Windu replied.

"When Qui-Gon Jinn came in here and told you of the attack of the Sith warrior and of myself and I," Ten began. "Did he tell you of his intent to train the young boy as a Jedi?"

Silence filled the council room. At last, the Togruta Jedi Master, the third woman present, spoke up.

"He spoke of the boy having unusual attuning to the Force, despite having never been trained as a Jedi," the woman said. "He also suggested that he might be the One mentioned in the Prophecy: the One who would bring balance to the Force. While he did not make his intentions known in words, we guessed his motives: he _does_ intend to train the boy as a Jedi."

"You can't let him," Ten said. "There's more to this than meets the eye."

"Your concern is admirable," Dooku stated. "And surprising, considering your recent assault on our Jedi, but you have not yet answered our questions."

"We looked into the future," Four interjected. "We saw what he would do and we tried to prevent that by any means necessary. Unfortunately, it was forced to come to blows. I assure you that we mean no harm."

"Please," Ten stated. "Whatever you may do, the boy cannot be allowed to..."

"The Jedi will make their own decisions in their own time," the tall-headed Jedi said.

"Master Ki-Adi Mundi is correct," Master Windu stated. "We have already agreed to let the boy be brought before us and test his skills with the Force. We will withhold our decision concerning him and yourselves until a convenient time. You are dismissed."

The two Timelords left the Jedi Council chamber, lacking their lightsabers.

* * *

Later that evening, after Anakin had been presented before the Jedi Council, the two Jedi, young Anakin and the Timelords now stood in the center of the Council chamber.

"Your assumptions about young Skywalker were correct, Master Qui-Gon," Master Ki-Adi said. "The Force _is_ strong with him."

"He is to be trained, then?" asked the old Jedi.

"No," Master Windu stated plainly. "He will not be trained. He is too old."

The two Timelords breathed a sigh of relief quietly behind the backs of the Jedi.

"He _is_ the Chosen One," Qui-Gon retorted. "You must see this."

"Your opinion on this matter, my old apprentice," Master Dooku said to Qui-Gon. "Is prejudiced in favor of the boy. Regardless of his nascent use of the Force, his future is indiscernible."

"I will train him, then," Qui-Gon interjected.

"You would defy the Council!" Master Gallia spoke up with faintly-reserved indignation.

"I take Anakin Skywalker as my padawan learner," Qui-Gon announced to the Council members.

"What about your apprentice, Obi-wan Kenobi?" Master Windu asked. "You know the Code forbids taking on a second apprentice, and he is not ready to begin the trials."

"I am ready!" the younger Jedi interjected.

"That decision still lies in the lap of the Council, padawan," Master Koon retorted.

"With your permission," Qui-Gon began. "Though Obi-wan is head-strong and has much to learn of the living Force, he has grown much. I discovered, during my training of him, that I learned much of the ways of the Jedi through training him. What little more he has to learn outside of my teachings he shall learn by whomever he trains."

"The Council will deliberate," Master Dooku said. "In the meanwhile, we have sensed a disturbance in the Force. The Queen is returning to Naboo: her presence could put press on the confrontation and possibly draw out this 'Sith' warrior you mentioned."

"And what of the boy?" Qui-Gon asked.

"He will stay here, where we can monitor him before passing our final decision," Master Windu said.

"In the meanwhile," Master Billaba spoke up softly. "Be mindful of the tension this matter has brought between you."

"We will," Qui-Gon nodded grimly.

"As for you, Timelords," Master Windu said. "The Council has agreed that your objections to Skywalker's training are reasonable. As such, we pardon your assault upon the Jedi, as no one was killed or wounded seriously. However, with what authority we have in this matter, you are under the protection of the Jedi Order."

"No, that's alright," Ten spoke up. "We don't need protect..."

"The protection does not concern _you_," Master Ki-Adi said. "But concerning those with whom you may come in contact."

"However," Master Ti spoke up. "We wish to begin under congenial terms. Therefore, your lightsabers will be returned to you."

"Fine weapons," Master Koon said, as he waved his clawed hand and sent the two lightsabers floating through the air and hovering before the two Timelords. "You both possess skills of the greatest of our order."

"May the Force be with you." Master Dooku said. At this, they were dismissed.

* * *

**(AN: Happy New Year! Posting this chapter as soon as possible took a long time, but there it is.)**

**(Yay for writer's prerogative. _Kelvington_'s parody had the Doctors fighting the Jedi on Naboo, with Qui-Gon striking down Four and K9 shooting Qui-Gon in the back. However, as that was a parody and I had the development of the characters in mind, I had to exorcise that. But I did have the battle and for the same reasons, and Romana got to play an important role. [Mary Tamm left _Doctor Who_ because she thought Romana was being depicted as a 'damsel in distress', but she won't be such in this story]. Also, I made the members of the Jedi Council talk more, because I hated that they never spoke [except for Ki-Adi Mundi, Mace Windu and Yoda, excluding Shaak Ti's non-canonical death from the deleted scene in _Revenge of the Sith_]. Plo Koon's voice is NOT based on the one from the cartoon _Clone Wars_ series, because I hate that [for reasons which I will elaborate on later], but on how he is voiced in _Galactic Battlegrounds_. That sounded badass!)  
**

**(Also, Yoda doesn't appear. _belatedmedia_ said that making him not appear but be referred to would increase the mystique of our great warrior, and I thought, why not? Also, what do you think about my depiction of the Jedi Council? A bit better than in the film? Since we're one council member short [lol, hipsters could say that Yoda isn't on the Council because 'too mainstream that is'], I had Dooku's departure from the Jedi Order be _after_ the events of _Epi__sode I_, for reasons which I shall elaborate on later. So he's on the Council, yay!)  
**


	10. Confrontation

**(AN: Well well, I spent a lot of time in the first half of the story, and now the later half is going to be rather short. Well, that's the beauty of this story, I don't have to do the whole thing. Remember in _The Doctor's Star Wars_, they appeared _after_ Luke had discovered the message in R2? A lot had already happened. But yay, we're coming to the end of this part of the story.)  
**

**(A few notes about this chapter, including my reasoning for my use of writer's prerogative. My brother [who is new to Who and likes Mary Sue Dalek, aka. Oswin Oswald] says that pretty much every episode of _Doctor Who_ jibs the billions of races out in the universe, all of time and space, just to have episodes about the Daleks. Well, maybe that's true, but I like the Daleks. Nevertheless, I thought that including Daleks in this time would not really do much as far as propelling the story along, so there won't be any Daleks. Also, unfortunately, because Anakin isn't going into battle [seriously, what kind of person takes a kid into a battle?], there will be no Naboo starfighter battles. I liked those, especially since I had played _Starfighter_, with Rhys Dallows and Nym and all that, so it was tough to get rid of it. However, we're also not showing any of the Battle of the Grassy Plains [no Jar Jar, no need to extrapolate on that battle], although it does happen off-screen [or off-page]. And there's a twist at the end, hope you like it!)  
**

**(Oh, and while reviews are helpful, I just gotta say...were you not paying attention? Aside from the Doctor's rather Stalinist view of the universe [one death - ie. the Ponds - is a tragedy, but billions - the Timelords and the Daleks - are just a statistic], I have been pulling from _Genesis of the Daleks_ for inspiration for the Doctor's motivation in this story. He's not an assassin, well Four isn't but Ten might be, and he knows that they can't just kill Anakin. With the TARDIS no longer present, that kind of alteration would unravel the history of this galaxy and HUGE consequences would occur. And they can't just leave, because River stole the TARDIS. I'm not going to make some cheap ending, like using the Eagles to fly the Ring into Mordor: I have too much respect for the story to do that.)  
**

* * *

**Confrontation**

There was no stopping the Queen now. Whatever had happened, she was now determined to return to Naboo and do what the Republic could not. As for the Jedi, they had chosen to go with her, as ordered by the Council. Anakin would remain on Coruscant: while the issue of his training as a Jedi was still in debate, it had been agreed that he could not be sent back with the Jedi into a war-zone. So it was that the Jedi and the Timelords stood before the Queen, discussing what they would do once they returned.

"As soon as we land," Captain Panaka said. "The Trade Federation will capture you and force you to sign their treaty."

"I don't see what you intend to accomplish with this move, Your Highness," Qui-Gon stated.

"I will take back what is ours," she replied.

"There are too few of us, Your Highness," added Panaka. "We have no army!"

"And I can only protect you," Qui-Gon reminded the Queen. "I can't fight a war for you."

"Doctor," the Queen said.

"Doctor Who?" both Ten and Four asked.

"I need your help," she continued.

"I think she means me," Ten whispered to Four. "Yeah, well, I'll do whatever I can, of course."

"Your Highness, if I may interject," Qui-Gon spoke up. "I do not believe trusting the Timelords would be a prudent decision. They have their own agenda, one which, I fear, has no further use for us."

"Oh, you make it sound like we're so awful!" Ten replied, then turned back to the Queen. "Don't mind us, just a misunderstanding. Now, listen, there's something that has to happen." He looked over at the short handmaid standing next to Romana. "Come on out, Your Highness."

"Excuse me, Doctor," the one on the throne said. "I am Queen Amidala."

"Thought you fooled everyone, didn't you?" Ten smiled. "Not a very clever ruse, you know. I happen to know that one member of the Naberrie family was elected to a royal position in Theed just last year or so, and it wasn't as a handmaid." He looked back at Padme. "I'm sorry, but you can't do this."

"Do what, exactly?" Padme asked, throwing back her hood and stepping forward.

"Well, you were going to go traipsing up to the shores of Lake Paonga and beg the Gungans to help," Ten began. "But starting by sending a decoy, that's pretty dense, don't you think? I mean, they, the Gungans, believe you, the Naboo, have no respect for them: they say you think they're stupid! Why start trying to build bridges by pulling the wool over their eye-stalks, to borrow an old expression?"

"Then what do you propose?" Padme asked, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Send me instead," Ten suggested. "I've arbitrated billions of negotiations in nine hundred years, there's nothing the Senate has over me. If anyone can get the Gungans to help your cause, Your Highness, it's me."

* * *

True to his word, the Doctor, all by himself, went and found the Gungans. They were quite surprised, however, when a person looking like one of the Naboo approached their sacred sanctuaries in the swamps. However, the Doctor's keen negotiating skills won the day and he appeared back at the landing site at the head of an army of Gungans.

He introduced the Gungan leader, Boss Nass, to Queen Amidala, the _real_ Amidala who called herself Padme, and they began their plans for battle. With them was the droid R2-D2, who was presenting a holographic map of Theed for their use. Unfortunately, while the Doctor had been away, Captain Panaka had sought out the Naboo Resistance: they had bad news. The Trade Federation's droid army was much larger than they had thought and well equipped.

"Your Highness," Panaka said. "This is a battle I do not think that we can win."

"Nevertheless, I will take back what is ours," Padme said in response. She turned to the Jedi. "You two certainly got into Theed to rescue me, despite the occupying army."

"Well," Obi-wan spoke up. "It was only the four of us. Master Qui-Gon, myself and the Doctors."

"Nevertheless," Qui-Gon said. "We are heavily outnumbered."

"Maybe we should ask our Gungan friends what they think," Ten suggested.

"I have ten thousand warriors ready for battle," Boss Nass' deep, basso voice warbled frog-like. "We can meet the machine army on the plains, drawing them out of the city."

"For a long time, Your Honor," Padme said to the Gungan leader. "Our people have lived in distrust, now it seems that your army is what we need. But I can't ask you to do this: the droid army is many times your number, and if you choose to do this, many Gungans will die this day."

"This is _our_ planet as well," Boss Nass replied proudly, beating his chest with his fist. "And my people are ready to do our part to defend it!"

"Your Highness," Panaka suggested. "The Resistance has a fair amount of pilots. Why don't we send a sortie into space to destroy the Droid Control Ships orbiting the planet?"

"There were hundreds of ships in the blockade," Four said. "Even destroying one would hardly do much in the way of stopping these armies."

"I agree," Padme said. "Our goal is the Viceroy, Nute Gunray. Where is he?"

"The Resistance said that he and his lackeys have taken the Palace," Panaka replied.

"Then that is our goal," Padme replied. "Capture the Viceroy, and we can force him to end this invasion. Without the Viceroy, there will be disorder and confusion."

"A worthy plan," Qui-Gon stated.

"However, there is one problem," Obi-wan interjected. "If the Viceroy escapes, he will certainly return with another army."

"Well, then, that is why we must not fail to get the Viceroy," Padme replied with a wiry smile. "Everything depends on it." She turned to the older Jedi. "Can I count on your support, Master Jedi?"

"It is our continued duty to protect you, Your Highness," Qui-Gon said. "We will go with you."

"I as well." Obi-wan added.

"And you, Doctor?" she asked.

"Yeah, we're coming." Ten said grimly. In his mind, he was going back once again into that atmosphere which he hated the most: the time when he had become a hideous thing, forced to sacrifice his principles and beliefs and kill and take lives.

In short, he was going into battle once again.

"Jelly baby?" Four offered his future incarnation. "Help ease the tension."

"Yeah, thanks." Ten said, accepting the offering.

* * *

The group had successfully sneaked into Theed, and were now making their way across the streets of the city, constantly on the lookout for any Federation battle droids still abroad. They were now in two companies, as a group of Resistance fighters led a Gian flash speeder at one end of the street which create a diversion while the main group went inside. For the purpose of the battle, the handmaid Sabe - she who had been the Queen's double - was with one group while Padme and the rest went with the other group, the one that would go directly towards the Palace.

The Doctors and the Jedi were in her group.

There was a heavy boom as the flash speeder blasted an AAT, sending the nearby droids into battle mode. Under their cover, the main group made their way into the palace's hangar. From here they could make their way to the Throne Room. However, once they entered the hangar, they were suddenly trapped. Not only were there battle droids, but the spider-like destroyer droids with their shields had pinned the group down.

"Damn!" exclaimed Four. "We're trapped."

"_Doctor_," a mechanical voice said.

Ten turned about, lightsabers in both hands, ready to activate them as he feared they had been discovered by a droid. Instead, he saw Romana with K9 at her side.

"Oh, it's you," Ten said.

"_Screwdriver_," K9 stated.

"Huh?" Ten queried. Then his face changed as the invisible light bulb went on. "Oh, that's brilliant! I could use the screwdriver to shut off their shields! Good boy, K9!"

"_Affirmative_," the robot dog said.

Ten took out his sonic screwdriver from out of his pocket and pointed it in the direction of the destroyer droids. There was the blue light and the tone, and then the shields faded. One by one they were taken down by the Queen's bodyguards. The rest of the droids were taken out relatively easy.

"Good work," Padme said, as they rose from cover. "Now all that's left is the Viceroy."

"Everybody, this way!" Panaka ordered as they made their way to the main door. One by one, the others fell in rank and made towards the heavy blast-doors. This was the only way to the Palace, save for the main route, but that was a kill-zone in which the other group was barely surviving. Going that way would destroy the purpose of using two groups, since all troops would be rerouted to the main entrance, making their mission just that harder.

The huge blast-doors opened and a figure, hooded and cloaked all in black stood in their path.

"We'll handle this," Qui-Gon said.

"Be careful," Padme said to Obi-wan. The younger Jedi smiled for a moment, then took his side at Qui-Gon's left. To their surprise, the two Doctors stepped up as well.

"This is our fight," Qui-Gon told them.

"I know," Ten replied grimly. "But we're here to help."

"Be careful," Four whispered to his older counterpart. "I've just dipped into the future. We should be prepared for anything."

The figure removed his hood and cloak, revealing a Zabrak with red-tattoos on his face. This was the very one that had attacked them on Tatooine. The two Jedi removed their robes and Four wrapped one of his scarves around his shoulders: they would be a tripping hazard in battle. The Zabrak removed a lightsaber from his belt and activated it: two, three meter long blades of crimson energy sprouted from either side. Qui-Gon and Obi-wan activated their blades, while Four pulled out his and activated it as well and Ten picked up both lightsabers from out of his pockets.

"_Allons-y!_" he shouted, activating them both at once.

Once the Doctors engaged the Zabrak, they soon learned that they were up against something that even they might not be able to defeat. Whereas Ten had had personal experience engaging a lightsaber-wielding opponent in Darth Vader, he was only half-human and mostly cybernetic. Even worse, this Zabrak was no fallen Jedi, but a Sith warrior. His skill with a lightsaber - to say nothing of a double-bladed saber-staff - was almost perfect. His movements were fast and controlled, not erratic as one might expect of an impassioned Sith warrior.

Nevertheless, the Sith warrior was slowly giving ground, leading them back into the hallway. Behind them, Padme and the Naboo were engaged with the security droids that had discovered their location. A fierce melee was now upon them, with the Naboo and the droids fighting a battle around the warriors in the center. At any moment, a blade would deflect a blow back at the droid or away from the Naboo, or one would reach out with the Force and throw a droid at their opponents. Any piece of the battle would soon erupt into flames and become part of the duel.

For one moment, the Naboo suddenly disappeared out one of the windows, leaving the Timelords and the Jedi free to continue their fight with reckless abandon. Marble columns were being sliced in half by deflected blows, or gripped with the Force and heaved at any given moment. The Doctors, meanwhile, were so absorbed with the battle that they couldn't do much besides fend off blows.

Slowly, however, they were making their way towards the Throne Room. On and on they went, until it seemed that this battle would go on for ages. At last, however, they came upon a heavy blast-door that was stuck fast. The Zabrak held out an open hand, pushing Obi-wan off his feet. Then with his double-bladed lightsaber, parried a combined blow from Qui-Gon and Four. Another blow that Ten had to fend off with both blades, then the Zabrak shifted control of his lightsaber to just one hand. The other one reached back with the Force, tore the blast-door off its hinges and threw it at the Jedi. The two Timelords and Qui-Gon hacked it to pieces with their lightsabers.

"Padme!" Obi-wan shouted.

Ten spared a brief moment to see what had happened. Just beyond the portal that had once been guarded by the blast-door was the Throne Room. Padme, Panaka and the guards had Viceroy Gunray at gunpoint when the door had been torn off. The distraction, however, had distracted the Naboo and Gunray fired on Padme with a hidden blaster.

"Obi-wan, no!" Qui-Gon ordered.

But the younger Jedi was up on his feet, lightsaber drawn and sprinting into the Throne Room to defend the Queen. The Zabrak, however, was continuing his fight against the Jedi. After Qui-Gon blocked a blow from the Sith's blade, the Zabrak struck the Jedi in the face with the hilt of his lightsaber, then in one swift motion, ran him through with one blade. At this, Four attacked, but he had miscalculated the Sith warrior. Though he had stricken down a Jedi with his fatal blow, he was now overconfident enough to let down his guard. The Zabrak made a single arc with his blade, which met Four's stomach.

"No!" Ten shouted.

At this, Obi-wan turned and saw that his master was stricken down. Blaster fire came pouring down at the Zabrak, who made a hasty retreat. When the fire ceased, however, the guards made their way to the doors to secure the Throne while a wounded Padme orchestrated the terms of withdrawal with Viceroy Gunray, who had been forced at gunpoint to relinquish his blaster.

For the Jedi and the Timelords, however, it was not a victory. Ten was now cradling Four in his arms, while Obi-wan did likewise with his own master in the Throne Room.

"This is it, then," Four said to his counterpart, almost a smile on his face. "The end."

"No, just regenerate," Ten retorted. "We can't have you die like this. Hmm? The timeline's already been under enough damage, your death will..."

"You might want to back up," Four muttered.

Ten nodded, then took a step back. Before his eyes, the face and hands of Four exploded in a flash of golden light. So this, he thought, was what it was like to regenerate. Though he had known Susan and Romana and possibly many other Timelords in his time, and though he had endured it now nine times, he had never seen a Timelord's regeneration from an observer's viewpoint. It seemed to go on for a while, and then slowly subsided.

He was now looking at a middle-aged man with golden hair rising up from the clothes of his previous counterpart's regeneration.

"Something's wrong," Ten said aloud, though to himself. "You just regenerated, and the timeline didn't fluctuate."

* * *

**(AN: Yes, I did just go there!)**

**(Don't be afraid, though. We have two other Doctors here: rest assured, Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor will definitely be returning. _Kelvington_ had Four regenerate, and I kept that because there has been damage to the timeline and that has to be addressed, especially concerning a certain character who will appear in the next chapter. Oh, and don't get all up in arms about my comment about Stalin. The Doctor _did_ kill billions of people, and yet his Ninth incarnation was still saving the universe, business as usual. Amy and Rory get 'touched by an angel' and then Eleven gets all moody and depressed and says 'screw you, universe'. Selfish any?)  
**

**(On a side note concerning the alterations to the _Star Wars_ story, that means that the next ten chapters, _Attack of the Clones_, are going to be different. You'll see just how different as we continue. No, there will be quick assassination of Anakin: without Anakin, there will be no Luke and Leia, and while you might think it would solve the problem of the Jedi Purge, that is not the case as you will see in the next ten chapters. While Darth Sidious may only have one 'official' Sith apprentice, he has dozens of Dark Jedi servants [in keeping with Zahn's depiction of the Clone Wars and the downfall of the Jedi], and, well, you'll see.)  
**


	11. River and Rose

**(AN: In order for the _Doctor Who_ universe to continue as usual, this _has_ to happen. Don't worry, I'll try to make Rose not so whiny. And I know someone's gonna complain, but I saw that scene in "Destiny of the Daleks" and we did not see Romana's regeneration onscreen, she walked off and it happened. So I guess what I said still works either way.)  
**

* * *

**River and Rose**

_Four years after the Battle of Yavin_

The Doctor had seemed to abandon her and forget his promise. Now Rose Tyler would be going into the midst of another battle. Not that she minded greatly: her time with the Rebellion had hardened her and when she believed the Doctor to be dead, she threw herself into the thick of the worst battles. Needless to say, fear was not a deciding factor. What angered her was that the Doctor was here - albeit looking like a child who had shaved his eyebrows almost completely off - and the TARDIS was here, fully functional, needless to say, and instead of keeping his promise, the Doctor was going off on this battle with the Rebels on this planet.

_Maybe he's not really _my_ Doctor_, Rose wondered. _Something happened on Bespin, I lost the _real_ Doctor._

As she sat in the TARDIS, musing on how alone she was, trapped in the TARDIS with no knowledgeable way of getting home, she noticed the wrist-bracelet that that woman River Song had worn. Though she had been very helpful during the plan to infiltrate Jabba's Palace, Rose thought of her as a bit arrogant, cold and slightly mad. Nevertheless, she had forgotten this wrist-bracelet of hers, which she had called a vortex manipulator. It might come in handy - it had certainly saved her life on Tatooine - so she got up and picked it up off the TARDIS' console, then made her way towards the door as though she would inform them.

Then she saw the words, that seemed to appear on the surface of the vortex manipulator: _Bad Wolf_. She had seen Bad Wolf almost constantly throughout her time with the Doctor in this galaxy just as she had seen it in her own galaxy. It _must_ mean something. Out of caution, she picked up her blaster rifle, put the strap on her shoulder, then looked at the vortex manipulator. There was a button, and for a moment, she saw the golden letters Bad Wolf flash upon it. She brushed at them with her finger...

* * *

_Thirty-six years earlier_

...and suddenly, the TARDIS vanished. She was standing inside a palace, huge and beautiful, like the ones she had seen in Italy on the tellie. She looked about, and she saw dozens of wrecked droids laying about, damaged beyond repair. Her first instinct was to take her blaster rifle and make sure the area was secure. She had just materialized inside a strange place and was suspicious of anything. As far as she could tell, she was the only one about, but she could hear the sound of blaster-fire coming from somewhere above her head. The palace looked big enough to be multi-storied, so she guessed that it was happening on another level. She made towards where the noise was loudest when suddenly she heard another noise that made her turn about in surprise.

The whirring of the TARDIS materializing.

Her heart leaped. Maybe the Doctor _had_ remembered her and was come back to continue their voyage across the stars. Her lips curled into a smile as she heard the aged hinges of the TARDIS door swing back and prepared to come running along at the first beck. To her surprise and slight disappointment, the one who appeared in the doorway wasn't the Doctor, but River Song.

"Well, come along, now," she said to Rose. "Can't have you staying around here, now."

"Wait, what?" Rose asked. "You're piloting the TARDIS! How..."

"I'm the only one besides him who can do it," River said with a wink. "Come along, there'll be time for twenty questions once we're inside."

Rose slowly made her way into the TARDIS, and River shut the door behind her and walked over to the console.

"So, what happened?" Rose asked. "The last time I saw you, you were on Endor with the Doctor."

"Yeah, we won," River replied, not even looking at Rose. "But he sent me back, and now I know why."

"Why?"

"Several reasons, to be precise," River rambled, in similar fashion, Rose noted, to the Doctor. "But one of them involves you. It seems you came in too early."

"Too early? And came in where?"

"We're on Naboo, thirty-two years before you and the Doctor showed up on Tatooine," River stated. "The TARDIS detected your arrival in the time-stream and I went back to keep you from making a disastrous mistake."

"What mistake?"

"Living too long," River replied with a wiry smirk.

"Wait, what, are you going to kill me?" Rose queried, worry rising in her voice. She placed her hands on her blaster-rifle and pointed it at River.

"Not like that," Rose shook her curly head. "You came in too early, as I said before. If I open the doors and let you out onto Naboo, you would be stuck here for thirteen years. Now imagine that, Miss Twenty-Three, what's going to happen when you and the Doctor show up back in London and your mum sees her thirty-six year old daughter step outside of the TARDIS?"

"Why? Why can't we just go back now?" she asked.

"Because I'm the one who stole the TARDIS," River said. "And I'm not giving it back, not until my mission is complete."

"What mission?"

"Spoilers," River winked.

"Dammit, tell me!" Rose shouted in frustration. "Why can't you just speak straight for once?"

"Takes all the fun out of everything," River replied.

"You're mad!"

"Yes, I am, actually," River said, her voice falling to a dead sincerity as she eyed Rose with her blue-green eyes. "I was abducted as a child, stolen from my parents, brainwashed into a remorseless killing machine." She then smiled. "Feeling comfortable, are we?"

Rose certainly didn't look it. Her hands were shaking as they gripped the blaster-rifle, which had not left River's direction. She realized that she had been far too trusting of River during her year with her. It had only occurred to her just now just how dangerous she could be.

Suddenly, there was a clang on the TARDIS door and someone was knocking. Rose turned about, hoping for the best.

"Doctor!" she shouted.

"Wrong answer," the voice said, and then the TARDIS door opened, revealing a tall woman in burnt orange robes with a magenta lightsaber in her hand.

"Who are you?" Rose asked.

"My name is Romanavoratrelundar," the woman said. "I'm a Timelord and I'm coming with you."

"Timelord?" Rose queried again. "I thought all the Timelords were dead."

"Obviously we're not," Romana replied.

"I remember you," River said, turning to the Timelord. "What are you doing here?"

"The Doctor sensed the TARDIS' presence when his previous incarnation regenerated," Romana began. "He sent me here to make sure all was well, and to help you, Professor, on your mission."

"I don't need help," River retorted.

"The Doctor seems to think otherwise."

"Damn him and his insufferability!" River cursed.

"Wait, the Doctor?" Rose asked. "He's outside?"

"Not right now, love," River said, sealing the TARDIS' door, trapping them in the TARDIS with her. "Now, Romana, can I call you Romana?"

"No, you may not!"

"Very well," River continued. "Pookie, get yourself comfortable, we're making a little bit of a jump here."

"'Pookie?'" Romana asked incredulously.

"It's what I'm gonna start calling you," River replied.

"I think I liked Romana better," Romana muttered to herself.

"Now," River continued. "We're going forward a decade, because something's going on in the Inner Core, something that needs to be stopped." She turned to Rose and Romana. "Can I count on your support?"

"Support for what?" Rose asked.

"Killing Dark Jedi." River said as though it were nothing.

"I'm in," Romana stated. "They said you needed some help."

"Well _they_ can bugger off," River retorted. "I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. You, on the other hand..." She said, turning to Rose. "You have to stay here."

"Why? Why can't I take care of myself too?"

River laughed. "You've got spirit, I'll give you that, but you're no match against a Dark Jedi. Now come on, you stay with us while we start hunting them down." She looked back and said with a wink: "It's for the Doctor."

Rose reluctantly grabbed onto the console of the TARDIS and braced herself as it shook about, the whirring of the engines roaring all about them. She had to hang on, for she was now going where she had never been before and, to her great alarm and quiet fear...

The Doctor wasn't there with her.

* * *

**(AN: So hard getting this chapter out. But then again, I've been having second thoughts about _Doctor Who_ and River as well. I'm definitely going to finish this story, but it's going to take a while.)**

**(Nope, no Nightsisters. Mostly because I do NOT want Asajj Ventriss in my story. Yes, I can say that she's a "Dark Jedi" and not an official Sith, but the cartoon and CG _Clone Wars_ say she is, even though that violates the Rule of Two. Also, I'm not having anything from the cartoon/CG _Clone Wars_ in my story [especially Ahsoka Tano], because it violates canon in so many ways [even prequel canon], it dumbs down the war into a cartoon adventure, ruins Dooku's character and a whole slough of things I don't have time to get into.)**

**(Nevertheless, review. It will help me get another chapter out soon[er])**


	12. On the Brink of War

**(AN: Yay, new chapter update. As with _The Doctor's Star Wars_, there's a parallel with a sub-plot being hatched in the eleventh chapter and then cutting back to the main story in the twelfth. Yeah, I'm going that way again.)**

**(Also, as far as the story of _Attack of the Clones_, that's going under the editor's knife as well. There was a lot of potential in that movie, but it all got wasted, mostly for a cheesy, wooden love-story between Anakin and Padme [who, despite being anti-war, was totally okay with him slaughtering a whole village of Tusken Raiders] and Obi-wan playing Clue for the Jedi, which culminated in an epic battle on Geonosis where we see just how much the Jedi suck at fighting opponents...with blasters? Yeah, I can believe that, because of a thousand years of peace, they would be less than proficient fighting another lightsaber-wielding opponent, but opponents with blasters?)**

* * *

**On the Brink of War**

"You know," the Seventh Doctor said to his Tenth incarnation. "We never did this kind of thing back in my day."

"What do you mean, back in your day?" the Tenth one replied. "You've got all the memories of my fourth incarnation, all the new ones have been of the last ten years."

The _Arbiter_ was in orbit over Coruscant, a GR-75 Gallofree Yards transport, as it had been on and off for the past ten years. With no way of getting back to their own timeline and with Anakin Skywalker still at large, whom the Tenth Doctor was certain was the Master, the Tenth Doctor and his previous regeneration decided to remain with the Republic and work behind the scenes, mostly with the Jedi.

While it had been fun, it was also very dangerous. During a fire-fight on Ord Mantell, the Fifth Doctor - to which the Fourth Doctor had regenerated after his fatal wound from Darth Maul, the Zabrak Sith warrior, on Naboo - had been shot by a Mandalorian warrior. The blast had flash-burned through his jacket and severely damaged both hearts, forcing a regeneration. The Sixth Doctor had not lasted very long either, for, on a peace conference to Felucia, he had been poisoned and medical care had arrived too late to save this incarnation. Now the Tenth Doctor was stuck with one of his least favorite companions.

Why, however, the timeline hadn't been ripped apart when the Fourth Doctor regenerated into the Fifth Doctor in the first place was beyond what any of them could have guessed. One hypothesis, though it had not been proven, was that the TARDIS' paradox machine was allowing his time-stream to be altered, but feared the reprecussions of what would happen if he meddled with others. Therefore he went to Corellia, negotiated the sale of a GR-75 and kept it in almost perpetual orbit over Coruscant.

"What I mean," the Seventh Doctor said. "Is that we never paid much attention to politics or religion. We did what we had to do, for the safety of the galaxy and of the people involved."

"Well, that's just the thing," Ten began. "A war is coming, you know, like how they said in all those silly Hollywood epic films in the 2000s. 'A storm is coming', 'the bad guy is out there somewhere', 'he's on the move', _et cetera et cetera_. Except this one is being fought by a Timelord, not just a Jedi. And I know what war does to a Timelord."

"Still," Seven retorted. "Why couldn't we just go down there and kill him in his sleep? Get this whole conflict over with!"

"No, we can't do that!" Ten replied incredulously. "He's still Anakin Skywalker, even if he's part-Timelord."

"Let's not go through this again," Seven shook his head.

"But it makes sense!"

"It's nonsensical!" Seven stated. "Even that curly-haired, bug-eyed buffoon and his jelly babies wouldn't believe it."

"But it's the only explanation that might work," Ten retorted. "Master comes down, puts his essence into a living body while its in utero, but, what he doesn't know is that the body he's entered is that of Anakin Skywalker, the most powerful Jedi in existence since Exar Kun. Now, the consciousness of the Master and the consciousness of Anakin Skywalker are both in the same body, but the Master's consciousness hasn't surfaced yet because he hasn't opened up the memories in the fob watch he gave to Padme Amidala."

"That's ridiculous!"

"But it makes sense!"

"You're repeating yourself now," Seven stated confidently. "Signs of a madman. I still say we should have killed him when we had the chance."

"There's a major problem with that also," Ten continued. "If we kill him, that's it, the Republic is doomed. Without him, the war would be lost and the Empire would rise unchallenged and there would be no Battle of Yavin, no Battle of Endor, no New Republic!"

"You seem to know quite a bit of what _might _happen," Seven stated.

"Of course, and so should you!" Ten sighed. "Besides, I won't kill the Master, not like this."

"Why?" Seven asked. "Have some kind of misguided feelings of self-righteousness? Or perhaps..." He paused. "Or perhaps you mean to go through with your plan: perhaps you still think as you did on Tatooine ten years ago, that you can retrain the Master, make him good, eh?"

"Maybe I am," Ten said grimly, not even turning to his counterpart. "Everywhere I go, every_when_ I go, someone always dies. Whole races have been extinguished 'cuz of me: when does it stop? Where do I draw the line and say 'No more! Today, everybody lives!'"

"But you know you can't do that," Seven shook his head. "Everybody dies, even you will one..."

Their attention was diverted as an indicator light was flashing and beeping on their scanner console. While standard sub-light scanners were typical on most hyperspace ships, the read-outs usually weren't in the cargo bays that had been converted into the Doctor's home-away-from-TARDIS. Seven was the first one there, reading the scanner before Ten came up from the rear.

"It's a Naboo cruiser," Seven said. "Nubian."

"It's Amidala," Ten stated. "She's come back, as I knew she would!" Seven looked at him. "Well, what do you expect? She'd rather lead her own people blindly to slaughter at the hands of the Trade Federation than start a war when she was Queen, who _didn't_ expect her to lead the anti-War movement once she became Senator?"

"This is absurd!" exclaimed Seven. "Must we really spend all our days in this bucket of bolts, watching the traffic to and from Coruscant?"

"Yeah, of course," Ten replied. "Remember the anomaly..."

The 'anomaly' was something they hadn't spoken about in quite some time. It had happened almost seven years ago, during their vigil of the skies of Coruscant. City Traffic Committee usually kept records of all ships that went to and from Coruscant, and yet there was one moment where an extra ship got through that had not been cleared. What was even more suspicious was that, during the time it went through, the CTC was offline: not for a long period of time, just under a minute or two, but that was more than enough time to send a ship through the atmosphere and go to hyperspace before anything was detected.

The Doctors had told of this to the CTC, but they gave it no need. They even went as far as the Jedi Council and the Senate, but they both turned deaf ears to their cause. So, with billions of ships going in and out of Coruscant on a daily basis, their only recourse to ever catching the one who got through was to wait and hope it happened again. While not possibly the wisest choice, waiting around in orbit of Coruscant also kept them at the pulse of the Republic, where they learned everything about the current conflict.

"Do we have a security feed on the landing platform?" Seven asked.

"Coming up now," Ten said, tapping away at the key-pad. A feed of the sleek, silver ship landing, flanked by two N-1 starfighters, appeared before them. For a moment, there was small activity, then there was a blur and a large explosion.

"What do you say we go down and help them?" Ten asked.

"Finally, we're back in action!" Seven exclaimed, running over to a cargo container and removing some of his effects. While the TARDIS was still missing in action, they had both been allowed to have clothes tailor made for themselves, and though the fashion of Earth was still quite alien on Coruscant, the Seventh Doctor was more than able to receive what he wanted: an off-white safari jacket, yellow pullovers and tween brown trousers, with a Panama hat to finish it all off. He picked up his favorite umbrella - another invention of his, since those did not exist on Coruscant, as weather was mostly controlled - and turned towards Ten, who was throwing on his favorite trench-coat, pocketing his sonic screwdriver and two lightsabers.

"_Allons-y!_" he said recklessly, as he opened the door and took off towards the hangar.

* * *

**(AN: Don't worry, Four will return. But I have to have Seven here, for reasons that shall become plain later on)**

**(As you can see, they aren't able to be solving all of the universe's problems, because they don't have the TARDIS, and they have to conserve energy with their sonic screwdrivers because if they break, they're broken for good and they can't get a new one - unless they build it with 22 BBY technology, and it won't be as powerful since it won't be of Gallifreyan technology. Oh, and I had a little bit of fun with the Gallofree Yards GR-75. Those are the Rebel transports in _Empire_ and _Return_, which had already been built during this time, so that's perfectly canon. Also, did you see it? Gallofree, like Gallifrey. I know it's not exact, but I thought it would be silly to have them in a Gallofree transport.)  
**

**(The 'anomaly' is important, and it will appear again.)  
**


	13. Old Friends

**(AN: One major thing I didn't like was how stupid the Jedi were depicted in _AotC_. We'll get to Geonosis meanwhile, but for this scene, I just want to say how stupid they were, assuming that Count Dooku just couldn't be responsible for any assassination. I bet you-know-who was laughing inside, thinking "Oh, I got 'em! I got 'em good! They can't see the obvious!" So I tried to make it sound a little less stupid, especially since Dooku's character is getting altered as well [he's still part of the Separatist Union, but just...different]).  
**

* * *

**Old Friends**

Neither of the Doctors trusted the Redrobes, the crimson-clad guards of the Supreme Chancellor, who were now leading them silently to his office. They were something not human, and their black visors showed no signs of life. It was like staring into a black hole. Nevertheless, Palpatine kept guards with him, now that he was Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, and they didn't argue, not yet at least.

They walked into the waiting room, where several of the senators were gathered for a meeting with the Chancellor. Among them were two people familiar with them. One was Bail Organa, Senator of Alderaan, who had befriended the Doctor during the diplomatic mission to Haruun Kal. The other was Garm Bel Iblis, the senator of Corellia, who had been on good relations with the Doctors due to their coinciding views on the current political state of the Republic. But there was one person there, one who they did not know was here and were surprised, due to what had happened but a few hours ago.

"Senator!" Ten greeted. "You're alive! That's always good to see."

"Doctor," Senator Amidala greeted. "You've finally come out of hiding, I see."

"Oh, you know me," Ten replied. "Never one for politics."

"Except now, I take it?" Garm asked.

"I don't want a war to start on my watch," Ten stated. "Are we up next?"

"Yes, we are," Senator Organa answered. "He's in council with the Jedi."

"Which Jedi?" Seven asked.

"Master Windu, Master Ki-Adi Mundi and Master Shaak Ti," Senator Iblis replied.

"Has Yoda returned from his meditation on Dantooine?" Ten asked.

"He returned briefly, during my last visit," Padme replied. "He called the Jedi together for a secret council, then spoke directly to me. Said that I should keep in contact, he said there were things he had to discuss."

"Ah, I see," Ten nodded.

The doors opened and they walked in, flanked by a group of Redrobes. The Jedi were the first ones to meet them as they approached the Chancellor's office.

"Senator Amidala," Master Shaaki Ti greeted with a bow. "It's a great gift to see you alive. Surely the Force was with you on the landing platform."

"Thank you, Master Jedi," Padme returned. "I don't mean to be rude, but if we could get down to business, I want to ask if you have any leads on who might have been behind this attack?"

The Doctor noticed the Jedi making a quick glance over at Chancellor Palpatine, who didn't seem to be looking at them. Nevertheless, Master Windu turned about and answered: "Our intelligence points to disgruntled spice miners on the moons of Naboo."

"Could it not be someone on the opposing side?" Padme asked. "There are people who will stop at nothing to get the Military Creation Act passed, perhaps someone in the Trade Federation, or maybe Count Dooku..."

"Count Dooku was once a Jedi, milady," Master Windu stated. "While he left the Council based on philosophical differences, it's hard to believe he'd actually resort to assassination."

"Master Windu is correct," Master Ki-Adi concurred. "Count Dooku is a political idealist, not a murderer."

"Regardless of who is behind the attempt," Master Ti interjected. "The Senate is being targeted."

"Master Jedi," the Chancellor spoke up. "May I suggest the Senate be placed under the protection of your graces?"

"Do you really think that's a wise decision under these stressful times?" Senator Organa asked.

"Chancellor, if I may comment," Padme interrupted. "I don't think..."

"...the situation is that serious?" finished Palpatine. "No, but I do, Senator. However, I realize all too well that additional security might be disruptive. But, perhaps someone you're familiar with: an old friend, like...Master Kenobi?"

* * *

The Timelords were waiting at the bottom level of the Senator's palatial sky-rise suite, where they would be the first ones to welcome the Jedi. They had important business with which to discuss with them. For one, they had been monitoring the scanner activity from the _Arbiter_ and it had happened again. While the CTC, the Senate and the Jedi were not open to discussing the matter, Obi-wan Kenobi might be.

"We're wasting our time here," Seven stated.

"Not with Obi-wan," Ten said, remembering how the old Jedi had spoken to him on Tatooine: in _his_ past, but in the Jedi's future. Just how he knew about the Daleks was something he could not fathom. Maybe it was just a Jedi mind trick, but he didn't believe it: Timelords were strong-minded and not easily swayed.

At last the shuttle appeared. Its doors opened and two figures, clad in the robes of the Jedi, stepped out. One was unmistakably Obi-wan Kenobi, with his brown-hair low longer and lighter and a beard upon his face. The other's hair, meanwhile, had grown darker and longer. He was no longer the padawan of ten years ago, after the Battle of Naboo. One or both of Ten's hearts fell to the pit of his stomach as he feared that he might already be too late.

"Kenobi! Skywalker!" he greeted cheerfully. "How are you, ol' chums?"

"Hello there, Doctor," Obi-wan said. "It's good to see you again."

"Senator Amidala's upstairs, might as well not keep her waiting, eh?"

"Padme's here?" Anakin asked hopefully.

"Yeah, sure. Let's go meet her."

They piled into the elevator and made their way up the side of the building. While Obi-wan and Anakin shared words, Seven and Ten whispered to each other at the side of the elevator.

"I think we may be too late," Seven said. "He's not a padawan anymore."

"No," Ten replied. "But there's some kind of uneasiness between the two of them, I can feel it, even if I weren't a Timelord."

* * *

The reunion had gone well, despite Padme's protests that she did not need more security. It was about evening, as the sun was sinking behind the tall spires of Coruscant. Obi-wan and Ten had been examining the security on the first few levels and were now making their way up to the Senator's level.

"Things have been going well with you, Obi-wan?" Ten asked.

"As well as could be expected," the Jedi replied.

"But...?"

"It's Anakin," Obi-wan said. "I remembered your warnings to the Council and have kept my eye on him. While he shows no signs of being anything more than he is, I'm concerned for him nonetheless. The Council made him a Jedi Knight, but I fear it may have been premature: his abilities have made him, well, arrogant."

"Some on the Council were this morning," Ten said.

"I agree with them, though," Obi-wan sighed. "Dooku was Qui-Gon's master, and Qui-Gon always spoke very highly of him. Besides, you and I were both there when he announced his departure from the Order: he didn't seem like one preparing for murder."

"Who knows what happened between then and now," Ten mused.

"I know, I know, the war," Obi-wan began. "Ten years ago, I would have relished the chance to go into war, lightsaber in hand, defending the Republic. But I've seen horrible things since then, and I can safely say that war is not something I would wish."

At this, the Tenth Doctor spoke his mind without knowing exactly why.

"I was at the forefront of war," he began. "In my galaxy, there was a war between the Timelords and the Daleks, a droid race meant on total destruction." He sighed. "It became so horrible that the Timelords were ready to destroy the universe just to win the war: I...had to destroy them, all of them, in one blow."

"How was that possible?"

"Oh, there are ways," Ten stated grimly. "Even in this galaxy. You remember how the Mandalorian wars ended?"

"Yes," Obi-wan nodded. "But that kind of technology was outlawed. It's surprising that such things were still in development in your world."

"It was war, we were growing desperate," Ten stated. "That's another reason I haven't left. Well, yeah, my TARDIS is still missing, but that's besides the point. The point is that I know first-hand what kind of hell war is like, and that's why I'm still here, to stop another war from happening."

"That's very admirable, Doctor," Obi-wan admitted. "I'm glad to have you with us."

"Yeah, I'm glad to be here too," Ten mused in an absent-minded tone. He was busy wondering why he had decided to stay, especially since the war that was to happen was _supposed_ to happen. Then again, he _was_ a Timelord, the last of the Timelords - eventually the other Doctors and Romana would have to return to their time-streams and become him or, in the case of Romana, die - and the laws of Time were controlled by the Timelords. But now he was the last one, and he felt that the laws of Time should be his to control.

_Maybe,_ he wondered. _Just maybe, I can prevent the Clone Wars, prevent Anakin's fall and redeem the Master._

Moments later, Anakin and Seven appeared.

"Any activity up here?" Obi-wan asked.

"Quiet as a tomb," Anakin said. "How about you?"

"Captain Typho has more than enough men downstairs," Obi-wan replied. "No assassin in their right mind would try that way." He picked up a security data and began examining it.

"I don't like just waiting for something to happen to her," Anakin said. "I know this whole trap was her idea, but it doesn't..." He looked over at Obi-wan's screen.

"What's going on?" the older Jedi asked.

"She covered the security cameras," Anakin dismissed. "I don't think she liked me watching her."

"What is she thinking?" Obi-wan asked incredulously.

"Well, she did program R2-D2 in case there was an intruder," Anakin stated.

The two Jedi continued talking, while Seven and Ten stood off by themselves. They shared glances and Seven shook his head. He knew what was going on inside his older companion's mind and did not like it. Nevertheless, Ten made his way to Obi-wan during a lull in the conversation.

"Obi-wan," he addressed. "There's something I need to bring to your attention."

"What's that?" the older Jedi asked.

"There's been a breach in the Coruscant Traffic Center's security systems," Ten began. "Not a big one, but long enough for a ship to leave the planet and enter orbit. For that sparse amount of time, the planet-wide scanners shut off for a brief moment, and there's been no leads on who shut them off or if they had authorization for it."

"Perhaps you should speak to the foreman of the CTC," Obi-wan suggested. "They might be able to..."

"Already did that, it's a dead end," Ten replied. "I even brought this before the Chancellor, nothing. That's why I'm coming to you: while the Jedi serve the Republic, they do operate outside of the jurisdiction of the Senate and the Republic. You or Skywalker might be able to find something they couldn't."

"These are dangerous times, Doctor," Obi-wan stated. "The Jedi are not well-placed to do any action that might be construed as against the authority of the Republic."

"I'm sorry," Ten apologized.

He walked away, when suddenly he came to a halt. Something was not right and he could feel it. Gesturing to the others, they made their way slowly towards the Senator's room. He pressed his fore-finger to his lips, then quietly keyed in the code to open the doors. Once inside, he pointed his sonic screwdriver at the Senator's bed. There was a piercing tone, a screech, and then Padme rose from the bed. Ten turned to the window and pointed his sonic screw driver at something just beyond the shades.

"Obi-wan!" he exclaimed. "Use the Force!"

The old Jedi held out his right hand, and gestured with his left. The transparasteel pane slid down, the night air of Coruscant roaring through the window, and a droid floated through the window. With another gesture with his left hand, the pane sealed back over the window. Behind them, Captain Typho and Dorme ran into the room.

"Are you alright, milady?" Dorme asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," Padme said, rising up from her bed.

"Careful, milady," Captain Typho said, removing the blankets from off her bed. Something fell to the floor with a dead, sickening thud. A light went on and one of the security guards pointed his blaster-pistol at the thing.

"It's stunned," Ten said. "Kouhuns, very poisonous."

"How did it get past our security?" Captain Typho asked.

"The droid," Ten gestured to the machine which Obi-wan and Anakin were examining.

"R2," the younger Jedi said the astro-mech. "Can you scan its memory banks?"

The astro-mech droid whistled an affirmative, then rolled over to the droid, where it inserted a probe into its side.

"Doctor!" Seven shouted. "It's happening again!"

"What?" Ten asked.

"The anomaly!"

Ten ran out of the Senator's bedroom and popped open a computer terminal. Using his sonic screwdriver, he was able to hack into the CTC and reroute at least one security camera to the place where they usually went offline.

"Aha!" exclaimed Ten. "Just as an assassination attempt is made on the Senator's life, _this_ ship is leaving the system!" He pointed to the screen, where the image of a long ship with a spherical pod at the rear, curved wings on either side and a long, narrow nose.

Obi-wan walked over to the computer terminal, and immediately, the Doctor felt that his Jedi comrade was becoming tense. They had come to recognize this vessel, a Star Courier that had been heavily modified. For ten years Obi-wan had been pursuing it and now, it seemed, that the Sith warrior was somehow connected to the assassination plot.

"Darth Maul," Obi-wan stated, examining the vessel on the screen.

* * *

**(AN: Yay! I cut out the air-speeder chase. Well, if people say the god-awful cartoon _Return of the King_ movie is better than Peter Jackson's because "less is more", I can do the same with this [and come up with MUCH better results than that cartoon movie].)**

**(Obviously, since Darth Maul didn't die in _TPM_, he's playing a much larger role in the story. Also, Jango Fett may or may not appear in this story. Reasons for may not is that we can keep some mystique about the Mandalorian, but still make him part of the story [obviously, the clones are still him and since I don't like "Gar!" piratey Boba Fett from original _ESB_, it's implied that, well, you know]: he was the Mandalorian who shot Five. And yay, they don't pull out their lightsabers for every little thing!)  
**


	14. Departure

**(AN: Yay for fan-service!)  
**

* * *

**Departure**

In the morning, things did not seem very hopeful. Whoever had planned the assassination, though they had failed to kill Senator Amidala, had struck a victory nonetheless. Security was heightened and, what was worse, the Jedi had requested the Chancellor allow Senator Amidala to leave the Capital for her own protection. Now there was nothing stopping the passing of the Military Creation Act, only time.

The Doctors were now in the shuttle with Padme, Dorme, Captain Typho and the Jedi. They were present for the hearing and were planning to separate: Seven would go with Anakin and Padme to Naboo while Ten remained with Obi-wan. Both of them were in for a dark and trying time, it seemed. Though Obi-wan secretly expressed his doubts to Master Windu, the Jedi Master instructed Obi-wan that Yoda had foreseen that Anakin's place was to protect the Senator, and that the Force would be with him.

"I still think he's not ready," sighed Obi-wan, as their bus made its way to the civilian hangar bay.

"But he's a Jedi, right?" Ten asked.

"Yes, but that's not the point, Obi-wan retorted. "He's, well..." He sighed. "He's been attached to the Senator. I fear he might do something without my guidance."

"So were you," Ten stated.

"That was nothing," Obi-wan retorted. "I considered her a friend, that is true, but over time, my Jedi training has taught me to see beyond social attachments."

"Sounds rather cold," Ten commented.

"The ways of the Jedi are not open to critique, Doctor."

"Yeah, well, I'm a Timelord, I outrank everyone." Ten reminded him. He sighed. "If only I had the TARDIS, it would be much easier to find the assassin."

"A word of warning, Doctor. If you find him, leave him to me."

"I knew you were going to say that. Be ware your feelings, as the Jedi would say: they lead..."

"To the dark side, I know," Obi-wan sighed in frustration. "It was also my feelings that got Qui-Gon killed." He looked grim. "That is why I see the Senator as nothing more than a friend."

"You shouldn't blame yourself," Ten commented. He then got up and crossed to the other side of the car, where Dorme sat next to Captain Typho. "Having fun?"

"Fun?" Dorme queried incredulously. "This is the most dangerous assignment I've ever been given!"

"Yeah, well, I laugh in the face of danger," Ten said, then his face became furrowed in thought. "Oh, _that_ was cliche! Still, I do, though. I've stared danger in the face and laughed, smiled at calamity and narrowly escaped total destruction."

Dorme's face fell. "This must seem very small to you, all of our problems and worries."

"Small?" Ten asked. "You're the most important people in the universe! Just watching you go about your daily lives, overcoming the problems you face, it makes me happy." _Happy and thankful,_ he thought. _That I didn't destroy all the Timelords for nothing._

"What's it like, out there?" Dorme asked. "I've only been here and on Naboo, but you, you speak as though you've seen so much."

"Yeah, of course I have," Ten stated. "One end of the universe to the other, I've seen more than these two." He gestured to the Jedi. "I've seen wonders you can't even imagine, worlds so vast it would blow your mind."

"It sounds very interesting," Dorme smiled, then sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"If I were free to do as I will," she replied. "I would like to go with you, see these worlds. But my duty is to the Senator. I've always been duty-driven, I...I'm sorry."

"No, don't be!" Ten dismissed. "Not everyone's ready for the universe. After all, while it's wonderful, there are also some dark places as well. It's not safe out there, but it certainly is fun."

The hover-bus came to a halt outside the refugee hangar, and Padme and Anakin began saying their goodbyes to Captain Typho, Obi-wan and Dorme. While they were doing thus, Ten saw Senator Iblis approach Padme and share a few words with her. There seemed to be a disagreement, after which the Corellian bowed and then turned to Ten.

"Doctor," he greeted. "Surely you're not going away as well, are you?"

"Not I," Ten replied. "He is, though." He thumbed over to Seven. "Has to keep an eye on Skywalker, eh?"

"I tried to talk Senator Amidala out of going," Garm said. "She's needed here, where she can better combat the Military Creation Act. She told me it was an executive order from the Chancellor." He sighed, looked about here and there, then leaned in closer as he spoke to the Doctor. "I fear the Republic is threatened from the inside as well as from without. This flippant use of power by the Chancellor and the heightened security after the assassination attempts makes one wonder if perhaps the Separatists were not entirely misled."

"That's dangerous talk," Ten said.

"Which is why I'm talking to you," he replied. "You've been close to the opposition and the Senator told me about your disdain for war. I fear that a time is soon coming when the Chancellor will confront you personally, demanding your oath of personal loyalty to him."

"I aid as I see fit," Ten replied.

"That has worked for the past ten years," Garm stated. "But not anymore. As part of this security bill, the Chancellor is requiring loyalists to swear loyalty to himself. He's toting that an allegiance to the Supreme Chancellor is the same as an allegiance to the Republic. There's pressure being put on the Jedi and since you're close to them, I thought you should know."

"Know what?"

"An earmark proposition of this latest bill has made carrying all weapons in public illegal," Garm said.

"I don't use weapons."

"You wield a lightsaber," Garm replied. "This proviso is being implemented on the Jedi as well. Predictably, they denied, because the Jedi, while loyal to the Republic, are not under jurisdiction of the Chancellor. The Holo-Net is defaming the Council for this action. Knowing your connection, I thought I'd warn you before you became part of the problem."

"I'm not a Jedi," Ten said. "I don't answer to the Council, the Republic or the Chancellor. I help them when the opportunity presents itself, but I am not bound to anyone or anything."

"I would be reluctant to speak those words again openly, if I were you," Garm said. "Dark times are ahead, Doctor. Be wary of what the Chancellor may ask of you, for I see behind these assassination attempts someone who will stop at nothing to start this war, or at least to cause terror within the Republic. I have to speak with the Diktat of Corellia about this situation, but I wanted to tell you to be careful. Without Senator Amidala, the strongest opponent to the Military Creation Act, it's only a matter of time before something awful happens."

"I won't let that happen," the Doctor added.

"This is bigger than you, Doctor," Garm stated. "However, I hope that it doesn't come to that point. I have to go now, may the Force be with you."

"And you, Senator." Ten dismissed. As Senator Iblis was leaving, Ten turned to his counterpart.

"Do you have it with you?" he asked.

"Always," Seven said, presenting his umbrella to the older Timelord. "Sure I can't talk you out of going with Kenobi?"

"He's in as much danger as Skywalker at the moment," Ten said. "He's susceptible to the dark side."

"How do you know?"

"Apart from his desire for revenge?" Ten asked. "He is going perilously close down the dark path, and now the darkness is coming for him." He took out of his pocket a holo-projector.

"What's this?"

"Our first incarnation gave this to me last night," Ten said. "Said it took him ten years to get hold of this and I think it's important to what Kenobi's going through."

He pressed the holo-projector on, and two meter-tall images of black-hooded figures materialized. One was kneeling before the other and at last they spoke, one in a low rasp and the other in the smooth snarl of an elder.

_...failed to kill the Queen, Master,_ the kneeling one said. _The blockade of Naboo is ended. I offer my life for this failure._

_That is unnecessary, Lord Maul, _the standing one replied._ The death of the Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn was sufficient. His apprentice is now being tempted to take revenge. He will find you and kill you for your failure, and then I will have him as my new apprentice._ Silence followed. _My decision does not meet with your approval, Lord Maul?_

_I do not believe Kenobi is worthy to be your apprentice, Master._

_Your feelings aside, I have sensed great power in this Jedi. He will make a very powerful Dark Lord of the Sith.  
_

The holo-projector was shut off, and Ten had a grim look on his face.

"But I thought Anakin was the one powerful in the Force!" Seven interjected.

"He is," Ten stated. "But if Kenobi _does_ meet the Sith, they will kill him and the future will be marred. Whatever happens, Obi-wan Kenobi has to live."

"Do what you have to," Seven said. "And if you find the TARDIS, pick me up, will you?"

"I will," Ten replied. "And _you_, don't harm Anakin!"

"He's not Anakin! We _have_ to get rid of him!"

"We can't guarantee that his death won't cause a paradox!"

"_You_ want to change him, that's the truth of the matter!" Seven retorted.

Just then, there was a voice cleared and they both turned about. Standing there was Obi-wan Kenobi.

"You," he gestured to Seven. "If you still wish to go with the Senator, you'll have to leave now."

"Oh, right!" Seven exclaimed, picking up his umbrella and bounding after Padme, Anakin and R2-D2. Meanwhile, Ten turned to Obi-wan.

"Where to now?" he asked.

"I have to report to the Jedi Council for a starfighter," the Jedi said. "And you, how are you planning on following me? I don't think you can fly the _Arbiter_ all by yourself."

"You'd be surprised," Ten smiled.

* * *

**(AN: Plenty of story exposition here, hoped that was alright.)**

**(One thing that I'm doing is drawing out the downfall of the Republic. It fell way too quickly in the movies, but in this, we get to see it's fall being a slow, drawn-out ordeal, complete with the defamation of the Jedi, so that the [spoilers] is more readily accepted.)  
**

**(Now I need a story and a good one, while at the same time making it something of a challenge for the Doctor. I'm having doubts about him and River, but that's going somewhere, so don't worry. Just review. Maybe I'll get to post a new chapter sooner if I see some new reviews on this story.)  
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	15. The Chancellor

**(AN: I need writing prompts. Most of my main stories have hit dead spots and while I'll attempt to get them going, helpful, critical reviews and suggestions for stories [such as this one] are good. "Good job, new chapter" kind of reviews are nice, but they don't really say anything.)  
**

**(I know, I'm being picky and I should just be happy that people are reviewing my stories period. Oh well, here's a new chapter)  
**

* * *

**The Chancellor**

While the _Arbiter_ was 'his' ship, Ten knew that stealth was needed where they would be going. So he began searching for a ship to buy among the hangars in Coruscant. He saw a good deal of security guards everywhere, probably installed after the recent bill. But as he searched, Ten suddenly saw Saesee Tiin and Kit Fisto, two Jedi Masters, approaching him through the crowds. Once they reached him, he saw that they looked serious and determined.

"Hello," the Doctor greeted them.

"Doctor," Master Tiin replied. "The Chancellor has requested that you appear before him immediately."

"Since when have the Jedi been the Chancellor's personal messenger boys?" Ten asked.

"It's the new bill," Kit Fisto added. "Everyone on Coruscant is required to register their weapons to the new security committee. The Jedi Council refused to surrender their lightsabers for registry..."

"And the Holo-Net's been giving you hell for it," Ten stated. "Yeah, I know."

"The Council cannot afford to act against the Republic again," Master Tiin said. "He sent us on this assignment to prove our loyalty. We ask you to come quietly: another situation would cause the Council unnecessary trouble."

"I'll go," Ten told them. "_This_ time."

* * *

So it was that the Tenth Doctor was brought before Supreme Chancellor Palpatine in his office. The Jedi escorted him all the way and announced their arrival. Once inside, the Chancellor thanked them for their devoted service to the Republic and promptly dismissed them. Once they were gone, the Doctor became aware that something was not entirely right or at least he was not safe. That was a tall order to say the least, to indicate that even he, the Doctor, was in danger.

"Doctor," the Chancellor began. "Ever since the crisis on Naboo, you and your associate have been of invaluable service to the Republic. I would like that service to continue..."

"So you send the Jedi to hunt me down and drag me before your Excellency as though I had committed a crime?" Ten asked.

"There's no need to be so defensive, Doctor," the Chancellor replied, a smile on his face. "These are dark times, my friend. One who would react defensively would give the impression that one has something worth hiding."

"Enough political double talk," Ten retorted. "What do you want of me?"

"For the past ten years, as I have said, you have been of invaluable service to the Republic," continued the Chancellor. "However, you are not affiliated publicly with either the Jedi or the Republic. I would like that to be rectified."

"I'm no one's servant," Ten replied, eying the Chancellor with a suspicious glare. "I help as I see fit, but I am not a servant to the Republic or the Jedi."

"It would be wise not to repeat those words, Doctor," the Chancellor stated. "Some might fear that your allegiances might be weak and seek to bring you over to their side."

"The Separatists are not the problem," Ten argued. "They were part of the Republic, their pleas were legitimate."

"Yet they have resorted to violence," the Chancellor sighed.

"But meeting them with violence isn't the answer!"

"I'm sorry, Doctor," the Chancellor apologized. "While I see from your enthusiasm that you cherish peace, I feel that our paths do not intersect. I love the Republic and its people too much to allow them to be victimized by the Separatist extremists."

"So you take their weapons from them?" Ten asked. "Yeah, I heard. The Jedi didn't obey your orders and you discredited them."

"The Holo-Net discredited them, Doctor," the Chancellor said with a smile. "They operate independently of the Senate or the Chancellor's office."

"That lie might work with the Jedi, but not with me," Ten shook his head. "Something's not right, and I won't rest until I've gotten to the bottom of this. Now are you done wasting my time? I've got to follow Master Kenobi."

"No," Palpatine sighed. "I believe all has been said that can be said. Have a care, though, Doctor. If you oppose me, you will oppose the Republic. I have said that I love the Republic, and that is true: I will _not_ let it fall, no matter the cost."

"Yeah," the Doctor said in a tone that was difficult to decipher as he left the Chancellor's office.

* * *

Ten was on his way out of the Republic Senate building. Once he was far enough away from the Chancellor's office and had scanned the area with his sonic screwdriver to insure no listening devices were being employed, he popped out his holo-projector and activated it. The bluish image of the Seventh Doctor, umbrella open and raised against what looked like a sandstorm, materialized before him.

"This charade has gone on long enough," Ten said. "We've been bogged down for too long in the politics of the Republic. We _need_ to get back to doing what we do best: _real_ good."

"I take it you mean the reeducation of the Master?" Seven asked.

"Yes, that's right," Ten stated. "But that's your job. I've got to find Kenobi and insure that he doesn't fall to the dark si..."

"It's too late for that," Seven replied. "We've received a message here on Naboo from Kenobi. He's uncovered an operation on Kamino, something about a clone army."

Ten fell stone silent. He then turned to a computer console, pointed his sonic screwdriver at the console and activated a galactic map. He then turned back to the holograph.

"It's gone," he said. "The planet, Kamino. It's not on the records, not even in the Jedi Archives, the most complete ones in the galaxy. It's been erased, possibly by one with access to the Jedi Archives."

"It would appear someone is circumventing the Senate to get this army created," Seven said. "But it's worse. Kenobi encountered the Zabrak on Kamino and has chased him to Geonosis. That's where he lost the signal. We're on Tatooine right n..."

"Wait, Tatooine?"

"I'll explain later," Seven said. "You, on the other hand, need to do something about this secret. It seems that someone else is trying to get this war going."

"You don't think..."

"No, that would be beneath him, even me," Seven sighed. "If what we postulated ten years ago is true, then the Sith are still at large. One might be on Coruscant, possibly even controlling influential members of the Senate!" He paused for a moment. "Is this line secure?"

"I wouldn't have contacted you if it weren't," Ten replied.

"We're on Tatooine, and Anakin was told to give this last message to Coruscant," Seven stated. "I'm transmitting it your way, perhaps you can keep it out of their hands, maybe buy us enough time to..."

The signal suddenly cut out.

* * *

**(AN: -sigh- this chapter seemed like it would go on forever. Then again, _Attack of the Clones_ is just plain boring. Even if I were able to sit through a whole two hours of Jar Jar Binks and midi-chlorians in _The Phantom Menace_, I usually give out in _AotC_. But I'll try not to give out.)**

**(What do you think about what I have so far?)  
**


	16. The Road to War

**(AN: Good news, I'm back in college, no longer single and I'm in a band now! Bad news, I'm back in college, so updates may not be so frequent. I have a needy gf, and I'm not the biggest fan of death metal [personally, I'm more into stoner/doom or viking/black]. I'm probably gonna get kicked out the moment they find out I can't play as fast as they do and prefer D tuning over standard tuning.)  
**

**(But I do read your reviews, so here's a new chapter.)  
**

* * *

**The Road to War  
**

The Doctor's transmission was severed. As he looked about, all the holo-projectors displayed an image of Mas Amedda, the Chancellor's aide, who gave the following message, which was translated in all languages.

"Attention, citizens of the Republic. In response to the rising crisis, the Supreme Chancellor has ordered the creation of a civilian defense force. Participation is mandatory and further qualification will be determined after examination. All civilians report to the Senate Security Center for further information."

Ten, meanwhile, looked suspiciously as he saw the holographic images shutting down. Stowing his sonic screwdriver away, he made his way down the Republic Senate building toward the Security Center. Rather than going through the main entrance, he opened a wall panel with the sonic screwdriver, then meandered his way out of sight. Down a hallway he went and saw doors on all sides. He aimed the screwdriver at one of the doors and received strange readings. He pushed the door open and beyond saw a large room similar to a classroom. There were desks lining the hall and at each desk there sat a human, usually male though there were some females, with learning apparati over their heads and faces. The Doctor, from his nigh intimate knowledge of the technology of this galaxy, knew what those apparti were for: flash learning.

This usually only took place with clones, such as the Spaarti cloners, who used flash learning and growth acceleration to create clone armies within weeks or even days. But these were not clones - they were genetically unique, each and every one of them. Something else was going on...

Just then, an alarm went off and the Doctor ran out of the room. But that was the wrong thing to do also, for he saw the product of the flash training programs: officers walking in rank down the hall. The Doctor realized that he had exposed himself, so he stepped aside, hoping that he would be able to go unnoticed. They might be too busy to bother with one simple civilian, and unarmed at that.

"You, halt there!" a stern-sounding voice commanded.

The Doctor sighed, but tried to act like he hadn't heard what had been said.

"You in the jacket," the voice continued. "Wait right there!"

Ten turned about and faced the new-comer. He was an older man, with a short gray beard and a noble-looking face.

"Yeah, sorry, where am I?" the Doctor asked, hoping that playing dumb would work this time. "I seem to be lost."

"You need to come with us, son," the old man said. "We'll be taking off shortly."

"Oh, don't mind me," the Doctor shook his head. "I'm not supposed to be here, after all."

"Exactly," the older man said. "We can figure out your punishment later. For now, you're with me. Now hurry up, son."

"Yeah, don't really like being called 'son'," said the Doctor, scratching the back of his neck.

"You certainly look young," the older man said as he looked back at the line of marching officers. "Now hurry up!"

"I'm nine hundred and ten years old," the Doctor stated.

"You have to tell me how your secret."

"Secret?"

"For staying so young."

"I'm a Timelord," the Doctor said, jogging after the older man.

"Can you fight?"

"Yes but I choose not to."

"You better choose _to_ fight," the older man stated. "We're being sent out to war."

"War?" the Doctor asked. "But the Military Creation Act hasn't been passed!"

"Our orders come from the Chancellor's office," the old man stated. "We're on our way off planet. Step lively, now."

"Oh, alright," the Doctor rolled his eyes. He was now walking briskly side by side with the old man. "I'm the Doctor, by the way. What's your name?"

"Captain Jan Dodonna, at your service." the older man greeted.

* * *

It was day on Tatooine, yet even the two suns could not brighten the dark mood at the Lars Homestead. After arriving on Naboo, Anakin was plagued by strange visions which told him that his mother was in some kind of danger. Despite his mandate, and Seven's protests, he and Senator Amidala went to Tatooine to learn the truth.

The truth was more awful than anything the Doctors could have imagined. Shmi Skywalker was dead, but what had happened afterward was most disturbing. Anakin kept to himself mostly, save for a few brief moments with Padme and Owen Lars, the son of Cliegg Lars, who had purchased, freed and married Shmi in the years since she and Anakin had parted. The Doctor had been present for the meeting between Padme, which had been brief and restrained. He had asked for the amulet he had given her when he first left Tatooine, and when she asked for what was wrong, he would not answer. The Doctor had interrogated Owen over what had gone between him and his step-brother, but he was in a bad mood. Apparently Anakin had said some scathing remarks about a moisture farmer's life and, for the sake of his step-mother only, Owen was barely keeping his temper under control.

But that morning, outside the Lars Homestead, the Doctor stood at a distance and watched as the humans buried their loved one. For him, it was a strange thing, to die. It had already happened six times or so, and hadn't gotten any less painful or traumatic. He hadn't been so afraid before, as much as he could recall: but now he was almost half-way through his regenerations. Six more or so and he would be dead permanently. The thought horrified him, for he hated death, even though he knew it was a natural part of life, even for Timelords.

While he was musing, his holo-projector buzzed with activity. He pressed it against the ground and watched as the youthful image of his future incarnation appeared before him.

"Do you know what happened?" Seven asked. "You were cut off half way through your last message."

"Something's gone wrong here," Ten replied. "Coruscant is a hive of activity. Humans are being drafted into the newly-created Republic Civilian Officer's army. I'm on one of the dreadnoughts, we're being shipped off to Kamino."

"Things aren't much better over here," Seven stated. "Something's happened to Anakin. I think he might be compromised. He took the fob watch from the senator and has been playing with it. Once he has his memories back, this squabble between the Republic and the Separatists will pale into complete insignificance!"

"Don't let him out of your sight," Ten said. "I'll try to find you once we're on Kamino, but..."

"Doctor?"

Seven almost jumped when he heard Skywalker's voice behind him. He turned and saw the young Jedi standing there, a strange look in his eyes.

"Uh, problem?" Seven asked, flashing the young man an uneasy smile.

"No, we're leaving," Skywalker replied. "Are you coming with us?"

"Of course!" he exclaimed. With a hand on his hat and another on his umbrella, open to keep the suns out, the Doctor followed Anakin back to their ship. Once inside, they saw Padme kneeling before the astromech R2-D2.

"What have we got here?" asked the Doctor.

"R2's received a message from an undisclosed location," Padme said. "I'll put it through."

She hooked the droid up into the ship's computer, then pressed a button on the console. A holographic image appeared, showing the image of Obi-wan Kenobi.

"Anakin! Anakin, do you copy? This is Obi-wan Kenobi!" the older Jedi began. "I don't know what to say, this is all...so unbelievable! He was one of _us_, and now...never mind, I mustn't let my feelings get in the way. My long-range transmitters have been knocked out: relay this message to Coruscant. On Kamino, I was attacked by the Sith assassin Darth Maul, the very one who I have been tracking since Naboo. I've tracked him to the droid foundries on Geonosis. I espied on him meeting with none other than Dooku, the former Jedi Master, who, true to the rumors, has taken up his ancestral title of Count of Serenno. He was the head of a meeting between various Separatists systems, including powerful financial cartels such as the Commerce Guild and the Corporate Alliance. Furthermore, the Trade Federation were present here and I learned that this Sith assassin was being employed by Viceroy Gunray. As it appears, the various representatives here are in the midst of forming a...wait! Wait!"

The image disappeared and, to the horror of Anakin and Padme, Obi-wan's holograph disappeared, replaced by that of a Federation droideka.

"R2, get the ship ready," Padme said. "We're going to Geonosis."

"Why?" Anakin asked.

"Are you mad?" she retorted. "Even if we transmitted that message, any help from Coruscant would take too long: they'd have to travel half-way across the galaxy." She tapped the console, bringing up a star-map of the Outer Rim region. "We're less than a parsec away from Geonosis, we're the only help he has."

"You're right," Anakin said. "Let me get this message sent back to Coruscant, then I'll lay in the course to Geonosis."

"You?" she asked.

"You saw me race back on Tatooine," Anakin said with a smirk. "I'm quite the fair pilot."

"That's not what the Holo-Net says," Padme retorted.

"They tend to exaggerate," Anakin stated.

As they were getting the ship back up and running, Seven walked over to Anakin and glanced at him from a distance. He seemed alright, there was nothing in his eyes that reminded him yet of the Master. Yet he could hear the hesitance in his voice when he asked why they would go to Geonosis.

"Why the hesitation?" he asked.

"I don't know," Anakin said. "It doesn't matter. Obi-wan is like a father to me, I can't let him die, I can't let anyone else die, not again."

"That's a noble goal, to be sure," Seven sighed. "But, you must understand, Anakin, all things eventually die. Even the stars burn out, even Timelords run out of regenerations. Death is inevitable."

Looking back at Anakin, Seven saw something else in his eyes. It was not anything that reminded him of the Master, but what he did see was unnerving nonetheless. He saw a strange kind of fire in Anakin's eyes, a cold fire that had been lit years ago and was still burning within his soul. In Anakin's eyes the Doctor also saw determination: so great was it that it seemed to whisper purposefully.

_I will _not_ let him die!_

* * *

**(AN: Yay, fun stuff! Ten meets Jan Dodonna [he was definitely alive at this time, and even served in the Republic fleet, which I will get to explaining shortly], and what is happening to Anakin?)**

**(I'll try to make the next chapters _really_ good, so don't worry.)  
**


	17. Arena

**(AN: Now we've come to the point where I feel that I've got sufficient guidance to go well. _Stardestroyer _[dot net] depicts what is about to come, in the film version, as really silly and ridiculous. Jedi used as terror troops [showing up at random and whipping out their lightsabers to scare everyone out of the arena], incredibly weak [dying at the hands of blaster-wielders?], showing no sound battle tactics [gathering about in a big circle to be gunned down] and having Jedi given command positions just...because.)  
**

**(I addressed the last one in the previous chapter, and I'm only going to say this one more time. Jedi have not had adequate training against lightsaber-wielding opponents and I can see how they would be weak in a lightsaber duel. But against blaster-wielding opponents? Maybe a Mandalorian bad-ass like Boba Fett or his "father" Jango [the aptly named Sir-Not-Appearing-in-this-Fanfic], but droids?)  
**

**(Okay, enough ranting.)  
**

* * *

**Arena**

"Well, we walked _right_ into this one," Seven said grumpily, crossing his arms and casting glances between Padme and Anakin.

They were being led by a small squad of Geonosian guards into the main council chamber. Once they landed, Padme suggested they leave weapons behind on the ship, as she was still invested in a diplomatic solution, one without violence. Both Anakin and the Doctor agreed, but the Timelord saw the young Jedi stow his lightsaber into his robes before they left. However, the young Jedi had lost his lightsaber when they took a shortcut through a droid foundry. Now they were unarmed and being taken before whoever was in charge.

At the farthest end of a round table in a large conference room sat one whom both the Doctor and Anakin eyed suspiciously: an old man, seated regally, dressed in dark colors. He was flanked by two figures cloaked and hooded and, because of the dim light, impossible to discern.

"Count Dooku," Anakin murmured.

"Let me do all the talking," Seven whispered to Anakin and Padme.

"You?" they both returned.

"I have much more diplomatic experience than you, Senator, and more patience than you, Skywalker," the Doctor stated. "And I'm the oldest being here, oh, and I'm the Doctor. Any other questions?" The Doctor looked between the two humans with a confident smile upon his face, then turned and addressed the ex-Jedi Master.

"Alright, now," he began. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. I know for a fact that you have a Jedi in your custody. We want him liberated."

"Doctor," the old man greeted. "Yes, I know it is you. Though your face has changed since we last met in the Jedi Temple ten years ago, your presence is the same. I regret to inform you that I am somewhat disappointed. Master Yoda holds you and your colleague in the highest esteem, I would have expected much more from you."

"Regarding what?"

"You have quite clearly chosen sides," Dooku replied. "You, who for so long refused to openly declare allegiance to anyone, now side with the corrupt, decadent and bloated bureaucrats of the Republic."

"I still haven't made a decision," Seven retorted. "Who I choose to help is my own business. You, on the other hand, _have_ made a decision: one that will see your life come to an end before your ill-conceived revolution wins anything."

The old man chuckled. "And how did you come by this wealth of information? As I told your Jedi friend, the Republic has been infiltrated by the Sith: the Jedi cannot prophesy as they have done in ages past."

"Well, then, it's a good thing I'm not a Jedi," Seven smiled.

"I'm afraid that will avail you little, Doctor," Dooku stated, then turned to the Senator. "Unlike Naboo, Geonosis is outside of the Republic. Your fate will be decided by the Archduke of Geonosis, Poggle the Lesser."

"On the payroll of your separatist union, no doubt," Anakin stated.

"Bribery is not part of our code of conduct, Skywalker," Dooku said smugly. "I'm surprised an idealistic young man, with a strong belief in structured government and order, such as yourself, would choose the greater evil."

"Count," Padme Amidala spoke up. "If I might interject, I believe both of us are at fault. I would like to see a diplomatic solution to this crisis as soon as possible, one that would see..."

"We do not recognize your authority, senator," Dooku replied. "However, should Naboo choose to join our union, then I would be pleased to hear whatever petition you might present." The old ex-Jedi raised his hand as Padme was about to respond. "Before you make any answer, I must inform you that the Geonosians have no love for the Republic."

"You mean they believe the lies you've been telling them since you left the Order!" Anakin stated.

"Unlike the Jedi Council, young Skywalker, I will not lie to my associates to further my own agenda," Dooku retorted. "Nor will I withhold information without cause." The Doctor saw a look of doubt pass over the young Jedi's face, then saw Dooku turn to Senator Amidala. "As I was just saying, Senator, Geonosis is outside of the Republic. The Geonosians will decide your fate for themselves, but it will be very difficult to secure any release by parties outside of our union."

"I think you forget who you're speaking to, Count!" Padme returned proudly. "I survived the Trade Federation blockade during my tenure as Queen of Naboo. Your thinly-veiled threats won't work on me. I would sooner speak before the Archduke of Geonosis and present my case openly than bow and scrape before you."

"As you wish it," Count Dooku sighed resignedly. "This is no longer in my power to mediate." He rose up and left the room. Meanwhile, the Geonosian guards were dragging their prisoners away.

"Didn't I tell you to let me do all the talking?" Seven scolded.

"You're an outsider," Padme replied. "You have no great interest in our problems."

"I was about to say that," Anakin commented.

* * *

The hearing before Archduke Poggle the Lesser had gone even worse than the meeting before Count Dooku. The Geonosians were completely uninterested in hearing Padme's defense, nor did the Doctor's threats to overthrow their government help any. They were now being dragged out to a great coliseum-style arena, where they would be put to death at the hands of several large, captured beasts. All of their weapons, including the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, had been taken. Only the Doctor's umbrella, which he had stowed away in one of his larger-on-the-inside pockets, was still on hand.

One by one they were led to a large pillar in the center of the arena, to which they were chained. As they arrived, they found that the one they had been searching for, Obi-wan Kenobi, was already waiting for them, chained to the pillar as well. He spoke first to Anakin, then to the Doctor as he was being tied up next to him.

"Hello there, Doctor," Obi-wan said to the Seventh Doctor.

"Kenobi," the Doctor said. "You know, I expected better from you than to be captured like this."

The Jedi looked over at Anakin, then leaned over to the Doctor as close as he could and whispered: "I came in here quietly enough, but when I saw Darth Maul, I must have given myself away."

"Where is he, by the way?"

"No idea," Obi-wan shook his head ruefully. He then looked back to Anakin, to make sure he wasn't listening, and continued. "Don't say a word of this to Anakin."

"There's nothing against being wrong,"

"Except I'm his Master," Obi-wan retorted. "Yes, I know, he's a Jedi Knight now, but I know he still looks up to me as his master. I cannot be wrong."

"Well, you're only human," shrugged the Doctor. "You're allowed to be wrong. Me? I _am_ never wrong."

"Then how could you possibly be able to advise me?"

"Because I'm the Doctor, I know everything and I'm never wrong!" Seven smiled cheekily at Obi-wan, then looked at his bonds.

"How about now?" the Jedi asked.

"Oh, this isn't the worst I've been in," he dismissed. "You should have seen when Sarah and I were on Skaro. _That_ was something. But never you mind me: I've got this fiasco quite under control."

* * *

In the topmost booth of the arena, several of the dignitaries of the Separatist Union, along with Poggle the Lesser and Count Dooku, were watching the events of the arena. Viceroy Gunray of the Trade Federation watched with excitement as the beasts were released into the arena: the spider-crustacean Acklay, the massive pachyderm Reek and the vicious lizard-cat Nexu. For a while it seemed that the beasts would prevail over the prisoners. But then the Jedi were free and one of them had used his Jedi magic to bring the Reek under his control and trample down the Nexu.

Angered at what was quickly turning out to be not the execution he had been promised, Viceroy Gunray ordered a battalion of destroyer droids into the arena to kill off the prisoners. Barely had the orders been given and the Nemoidian's hand hovered over the remote command console, leaving him a press of a button away from killing the prisoners, a lightsaber appeared at his neck.

Dooku turned about and saw a cadre of cloaked and hooded warriors filling the tunnel that led to the Archduke's box. One of them, the Nautolan Jedi Master Kit Fisto, had his emerald blade at the Viceroy's throat, while their leader approached his once former Council member and closest friend.

"Master Windu," Count Dooku greeted. "How pleasant of you to join us."

"This party's over," the Jedi Master said. "You and your Separatist union have no way of escape. Surrender and release your prisoners."

"Brave but, uh, foolish, my old Jedi friend," Dooku retorted.

"Why?" Master Windu asked. "Your army of droids are no match for a Jedi."

"You're impossibly outnumbered, Master Windu," Dooku said. He then gestured with his hand and took a step backwards. "Hopelessly outnumbered."

The two hooded and cloaked figures stepped forward.

* * *

What had began as a simple task of striking the krayt dragon by the head had now turned into quite the rout. Jedi lay fallen upon the sand of the arena, but not at the hand of the droids that had filled the arena: their blasts were easily deflected by the flash of the lightsabers. Another menace had arisen, one that was hunting Jedi through the fields of fire.

The fighting was now scattered in small groups of Jedi forming small groups, using their blades to deflect blasts back into their droid enemies to destroy them. Toward the middle of the arena, two Jedi were fighting their way to Kenobi, Skywalker, Amidala and the Doctor.

"Master Unduli!" Kenobi greeted the Mirialan Jedi Master as she and her apprentice, Barriss Offee, leaped towards them, hacking apart a squadron of Techno Union super-battle droids in their way.

"Kenobi, Skywalker," Luminara Unduli said to them. "Master Yoda said you two would be here." She handed then two lightsabers. "We found these on our way in here. A Jedi's lightsaber is their life, it must _never_ leave their side!"

"Yes, Master Unduli," Obi-wan nodded, before taking his weapon.

"What's the situation?" Anakin asked.

"Count Dooku has more than droids at his disposal," Barriss Offee said. "There's this warrior of theirs, he's unstoppable."

"Darth Maul," Obi-wan said.

"No, Master Kenobi," Luminara shook her head. "There's something else, it's..."

Suddenly, a droid came flying at Luminara's head. She turned about, held out her hand open-palmed, and stopped the droid in mid-air. Suddenly the droid exploded and through the fire-fight there appeared one of the black-clad figures that had stood at Count Dooku's side. It walked slowly towards them, but said no word and made no sound.

"That's it!" Barriss Offee exclaimed. "The Jedi killer!"

To everyone's surprise, the Doctor stepped forward, coming between the Jedi and the approaching figure. He had no weapon, he had never taken up one of the blasters nor lightsabers from those who had fallen in the arena. As he approached the figure, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his umbrella. The black-cloaked figure laughed a mechanical rasp.

"What trickery is this?" the figure asked. "Do you seek to mock me?"

"I will only say this once," Seven said. "I've sent armies running in fright at the mere mention of my name. Unless you want to meet the fate of those who weren't that smart, I'd turn around and run...General."

"You dare threaten me with that?" A six-fingered, mechanical claw-like hand reached out of the robe and pointed at the umbrella.

Seven took his umbrella with two hands, then detached the head from the tent portion. He smiled as he pressed a button on the umbrella head, and an emerald blade of energy erupted from the detached end.

But his enemy was no mere warrior of the Outer Rim, a blaster-wielding fool: not even a hardened Jedi hunter like the Mandalorians. The figure reached into the recesses of its robe and two lightsabers appeared in each hand.

"Attack, Doctor!" the general ordered.

* * *

**(AN: A few subtle changes, like the remake of a deleted scene from _AotC_ [like how I did in _The Doctor's Star Wars_], and the battle re-imagined. I think you can guess who I've introduced, but that's important. I wanted to get him out as soon as possible, rather than make him a one-hit wonder for the third movie. Plenty of other things will be happening in the next part of the story, so don't worry.)**

**(Also, I think Dooku got the poor end of the stick, especially outside of the movies [cg/cartoon _Clone Wars_]. In the movies, Christopher Lee as Count Dooku gracefully walks the thin line between good and evil, though he's obviously being played off as a bad guy. In the cartoons, he's just a mustache-twirling bad guy who does bad things for no reason, just because he's a bad guy who creates situations for the good guys to fight their way out of, pretty much. One tumblr user went into great lengths to show how wrong I was with this [even going so far as to show how much of a racist ass he was with his 'screw Mace Windu, he's just for political correctness'], but I don't care. If you want to believe Dooku truly is a Sith, then you know that betrayal is part of the Sith way, which makes the idea that he thinks he's actually doing good by championing this confederacy and trying to pull one over the eyes of you-know-who [NOT Voldemort or the Wicked Witch of the West] by trying to betray him actually work.)  
**

**(Personally, what he had said to Obi-wan in _AotC_ was true - the Republic was under the control of the Dark Lord of the Sith. That makes me believe that he left the Jedi because he saw that they weren't doing anything to combat this, so he would do so in his own way by pretending to be on you-know-who's side, but then betray him by having him...well, you'll see.)  
**


	18. Defeat

**(AN:)  
**

* * *

**Defeat**

"There he is!" Obi-wan said to himself.

In the midst of a group of Jedi knights strode the dark figure of the Sith assassin. He made them look like padawans, the way they fell easily before him. But the Jedi had fallen indeed. For over a thousand years, they had kept the peace in the Republic, believing the Sith to be dead and gone. But for that time, the Jedi all but forgot how to fight properly against opponents wielding lightsabers. No one else but the Jedi wielded them, and as they were allies, saber dueling skills had waned.

Not so for the Sith. In the darkness they had waited, their hatred cold and calculated. Long had the Two trained in the darkness, waiting for the day when they would return and destroy the Jedi. For Darth Maul, that day had already come ten years ago, when he struck down Qui-Gon Jinn, a fully-trained Jedi Master. But his own master, Darth Sidious, had other plans for his apprentice. He _wanted_ him to be found by Kenobi.

The Jedi Master called upon the Force as he sprinted through the battlefield toward his opponent. He came to a halt before the black-robed Sith Zabrak, drawing his lightsaber and taking the Soresu saber stance. The Sith snarled at him, spun his double-bladed crimson lightsaber over his head, then attacked.

It was different now than when they had last clashed blades ten years ago. Both were fresh from their training, eager to prove their worth. But the years had changed them. Obi-wan was older and more skilled in his art of the lightsaber, and quietly, hidden beneath his stiff upper-lipped approval of the Code of the Jedi Order, harbored feelings of revenge. He had failed Qui-Gon Jinn and let him die. Now he would make that right with the destruction of this Sith. It would be the right thing to do, he told himself. He was behind so much evil that had happened in the galaxy throughout the years. The Sith naturally ruled through fear and violence, and it would be right for both the Republic and the Jedi if Darth Maul were struck down. Never the less, as the two clashed blades, Obi-wan could hear the words of his old master, the wise and secretive Master Yoda.

_To take vengeance the way of the Jedi it is not. Anger and hate the companions of vengeance they are, lead one down the dark side do they. Remember this you must: if once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny._

The Sith, however, had changed as well. They were fundamentally different than the empire of dark side wielders that had plagued the Jedi over a thousand years ago. The Zabrak who engaged this Jedi was the product of a millennium of training in secret. He was a weapon of hatred, fueled by the very powers that the Jedi had forsaken as dangerous. This made them weak, and Darth Maul knew this: it would be his secret strength against this brain-washed Jedi. But something else drove the Sith as well. After the failure on Naboo, he had learned the truth from his master. He, Darth Maul, the scourge of the Jedi, was a pawn, of no lesser or greater importance than the rabble of the Republic. He was to fall at the hands of this Jedi, who would then be easy to seduce into falling. But Darth Maul had no intention of obeying his master. From him he had learned the legend of Darth Plagueis the Wise, who gave his power to his apprentice Darth Sidious, who then killed him in his sleep. As they clashed blades, Darth Maul reasoned that he would destroy Kenobi, then slay his master and continue their grand scheme on his own.

* * *

The Doctor knew all of this, even as he stood toe to toe with General Grievous, a thing that was no more Kaleesh than he himself was human. He knew past, present and future, and knew that something was wrong. The General was a Jedi killer and he was not supposed to appear this early in the conflict. Something wrong had happened, and it wouldn't end well for the Republic or the Jedi. But he knew what would happen, and that both were numbered.

All this passed through his mind in the blink of an eye, for the battle was still thick about them, and his opponent laughed at him.

"You think you can best me, Jedi?" growled the droid general. "I hunt your kind for sport!"

"Thankfully," the Doctor said with a confident smirk, flourishing his emerald blade. "I'm not a Jedi. I'm the Doctor."

The droid attacked, but the Seventh Doctor was skilled with sword-play. Over the years since he had appeared in this galaxy at this point in the time-stream, he had grown even more skilled. Nevertheless, the creature was more than a match for the Timelord's portly physique. It had no weaknesses, no desire to retreat or bargain. It was a monster, a killing machine possibly even worse than the Daleks. The Doctor had to defeat him this time...

This time. As he clashed blades with the General, the Doctor felt a strange sense of _deja vu_. Obviously this was only natural for a Timelord, but he had never met General Grievous before, and yet he almost _knew_ that he had encountered him before, possibly almost lost his life to him. He knew that was not right, and yet the feelings would not leave. It was true, just as true as the inevitable end of the universe and time itself, and so was the past that he had known. They were both true, and yet it was impossible that they could have ever been.

"I can sense your frailty!" the general laughed. "I'll enjoy crushing you, then I'll add your lightsaber to my collection. I'll have many more to add after today!"

"You forget who you're talking to, monster," Seven retorted, thrusting deftly at the general's metallic rib-cage, only to have the general parry the blow. "I've fought creatures a thousand times worse than you and triumphed. Maybe you should surrender while that's still an option!"

"Stop your chatter, whelp!" Grievous demanded, attacking again with his lightsabers in a horizontal arc that would have hacked the Doctor in two. However, despite his seemingly rotund physique, the Doctor also had the skill of the Force and leaped back out of the way easily enough, though his favorite hat fell to the sand of the arena. Turning back to his opponent, he saw the droid's arms each divide in half. He now had four arms, each with three clawed fingers to a hand, each of which was holding a lightsaber. The Doctor was now facing an unstoppable opponent with _four_ lightsabers.

"Well well, this just got interesting!" the Doctor exclaimed.

* * *

Obi-wan Kenobi leaped aside as the massive Reek came charging through the battledroids towards him and the Sith assassin. As he landed on his feet with cat-like skill and grace, he saw the Sith somersault aside to avoid the rampage of the Reek. But it was all he had needed, for in his spin, the assassin had hacked off the Reek's head in a single sweep of his red blade.

Once again they charged into each other. But mere moments before their blades clashed again, they halted. Obi-wan kept his eyes on the Sith, who eyed him venomously. He knew that he had his prey exactly where he wanted him and was toying with him. The yellow-red eyes unnerved the Jedi, as did the confident snarl the Zabrak wore on his face. It didn't help matters any that this was the one who had killed Qui-Gon Jinn. Obi-wan knew that, and so did his enemy, and he could feel the Sith trying to use that against him.

Suddenly, a blast from one of the nearby droids shot towards Obi-wan's face. He barely had enough time to swing his lightsaber in place to deflect the blast. Again it happened and then Obi-wan saw that the Sith had his hand gestured in their direction. He was using the droids to shoot at Obi-wan. As far as the Jedi could guess, he was trying to break his concentration. A distracted enemy was easier to kill than a focused one. But with this realization, Obi-wan made an important discovery about his enemy as well: his powers and focus were bent on altering the programs of the droids, but not on his opponent.

Obi-wan took the momentum and charged, lightsaber ready. He had underestimated his opponent, however, and suddenly felt it as his knee-cap was hit by the tip of the red lightsaber. He crumbled to the sand of the arena, fearing the inevitable end as the Sith assassin glowered over him. He reached out for his lightsaber, which had fallen from his grip, but too late. The Sith had kicked it away farther into the arena. He stared down at the Jedi, a hungry look in his red eyes.

The Jedi then experienced a moment of extreme clarity. He knew what had to be done. While he was injured, he was not wholly crippled. He reached out with the Force and pulled his lightsaber into his hand. In one brief moment, even as the Sith was bringing down his blade to run Obi-wan through, the Jedi's lightsaber had sliced through the double-pommel of the saber-staff. The blade that was coming down towards Obi-wan shut off and all that hit him was the heated half of a lightsaber.

With that momentum, he had leaped back onto his feet and swung a wide arc to hack off the Sith in the middle. But Darth Maul was too clever for that: he barred the blow with the last good piece of his lightsaber. The two lunged once again into their endless duel.

* * *

The scattered remnants of the Jedi stood at a stand-still. The droids had halted, waiting for their orders. Even Grievous, who had still struck down the Doctor with a cheap-shot through the back, finally obeyed the command to stand down. The rest of the Jedi looked up at the arena, from which a loud voice addressed them all.

"Master Windu," Dooku said, addressing the senior member of the Jedi Council, now among the survivors in the arena. "You have fought gallantly, worthy of recognition in the archives of the Jedi Order. Now it is finished: surrender and your lives will be spared."

"We will not be hostages to be bartered, Dooku!" the Jedi master returned.

"I offer you clemency and this is how you repay me?" Dooku replied grimly. "You, who sought to assassinate me, are now at my mercy. It would be wise to accept my offer. I say one last time: surrender and you shall all be spared."

"You've made yourself an enemy of the Republic this day," Master Windu stated. "As the sworn defenders of the Republic, you are our enemy."

"Then," Dooku sighed sorrowfully. "I'm sorry, old friend."

All the battle-droids turned their weapons back to the small groups of Jedi, scattered about the arena. Escape was hopeless. In these numbers, even the skill of the Jedi could be pushed beyond the breaking point. To add to this were the presence of General Grievous and Darth Maul, Jedi killers. But even worse, the Doctor had been struck down and was not regenerating. It all seemed rather bleak and hopeless.

* * *

**(AN: That was the quick version of the first part of the arena battle of Geonosis. I suck at depicting battles, and yes, that was General Grievous.)**

**(I'm sorry that Seven didn't get more time, but this is important, as you will see once we get to the _RotS_ part of the story. Hint, I've got loads to do to de-wibbley wobbley the timey wimey, and that is significant.)  
**


	19. Attack of the Clones

**(AN: So all we gotta do now is climb aboard the Doctor Who timey-wimey machine and off we go, squibbley squobbly. Lol, I was pretending to be Captain Jack...Sparrow, that is. So, how about some writing prompts, hmm? I had a fun idea for two more _Doctor Who_ series - don't worry, it's not going to branch out into a series of crossovers, like the _Ozian Adventures_ did, but I want to know who would be into that.)  
**

**(So now back to our heroes!)  
**

* * *

**Attack of the Clones**

"Look!" Senator Padme Amidala shouted, looking up at the sky above the arena.

Above their heads, coming down out of orbit, there appeared dozens of heavy Low-Altitude Assault Transports, filled with troops in white armor. Once they arrived within two or three meters of the ground, the gunships opened fire, raining destruction upon the droids below. With covering fire from above, several of the gunships touched down among the groups of surviving Jedi. One by one the survivors climbed aboard, using their lightsabers to protect these armored troops. One of the transports came close to touching down where Kenobi, Skywalker and Amidala stood their ground with Luminara Unduli, Barriss Offee, Master Windu and the Seventh Doctor. Standing on the LAAT's loading ramp, trench-coat flying in the wind kicked up by the repulsorlift engines, spiky short hair defying gravity and blue lightsaber activated in his hand was...

"Doctor!" Kenobi greeted with surprise.

"Come on, now!" the Doctor shouted. "We haven't got all day!"

One by one, they climbed aboard, with Luminara and her apprentice carrying the Seventh Doctor between their shoulders. Once they were all on-board, the LAAT took off. The Doctor, meanwhile, had turned to his companion, whose head was lying in Barriss Offee's lap as she knelt down at his side.

"What happened to him?" Ten asked the Mirialan.

"The Separatists had some kind of droid general," Barriss Offee began, but her words were cut off as blaster-flak barely missed the port-side wing of the LAAT. A light roll to starboard kept them from exploding in a ball of flame, but they had to cling on to the loading rails for dear life until the ship stabilized.

"A Jedi killer," Offee continued. "He ran him through with a lightsaber. I...I've never seen a Jedi fall to a droid, something outside of the Force!"

"He'll be alright," Ten assured her.

"I'm not sure," she shook her hooded head. "I'm a healer, and I could sense his biology through the Force. He's not human, and neither are you."

"Yes, we're Timelords," Ten continued. "But what happened?"

"The blow burned a hole in both of his hearts," Offee stated. "But something else is keeping him alive."

"There you are!" Seven stated. "You tardy blighter!"

"Just relax," Ten said to his younger counterpart. "We'll land and then I..."

"No," Seven shook his head. "I'm too far-gone. Held off...regeneration...to say goodbye."

"No!" Ten shouted. "Why did you do that? It will only make it harder once it _has_ to happen. You might not survive!"

"Then you better land this contraption!" Seven groaned. "Before I kill you all."

"What does he mean by that?" Padme asked.

"Regeneration energy," Ten responded. "The essence of a Timelord's life. He's held off his regeneration so long, it could blow this ship apart." He leaned up and shouted at the pilot. "Set us down somewhere!"

"Yessir," the pilot nodded.

The LAAT touched down on the reddish brown sands of Geonosis, while the Doctor and Barriss Offee carried the Seventh Doctor out and laid him on the sand. Ten removed his trench-coat and spread it on the ground for his younger counterpart to lie on. Behind them, Kenobi and Skywalker were seeing an armada of LAATs and Acclamator-class Stardestroyers dropping out of orbit.

"What's going on?" Skywalker asked.

"It's war," Padme said grimly. "We've failed."

"They're here to take out the droid foundries," Ten said back. "Orders are to cripple the Separatists' war machine, putting them at a disadvantage early on. I was able to convince them to let me lead."

"You?" Obi-wan asked.

"I'm the Doctor," Ten stated. "I've fought wars before, more than these flash-learned human officers." He then turned back to Seven and began seeing the gossamer haze of golden light emanating off his body.

"Get back," he said, spreading his arms out and taking three steps back. The others slowly did so.

From the Seventh Doctor's hands, feet and face, a blaze of golden light shone forth like fire. Some of the others covered their eyes, but the Doctor looked on. He was seeing what had happened to him nine times in his life, and just then, as he saw the end of one life of his and the beginning of another, a thought appeared in his mind. Perhaps the damage would not be permanent if...

The form shifted under the glow of the regeneration energy. Fat melted away, the legs shot out and the hair grew longer and wavier. When the energy finally dispersed, a thin, handsome looking man was lying there. He had shoulder-length, wavy light-brown hair, blue eyes and seemed, in his previous incarnation's clothing, to look as though he had leaped out of the pages of a Jane Austen novel.

"Oh, blimey!" Ten exclaimed with a smile, as he fondly remembered his eighth incarnation.

"Hello there, lad," the Eighth Doctor said to his younger-looking counterpart.

"'Lad?'" Ten retorted. "I'm nine hundred and ten years old, if anyone should be called lad, it's you, Goldilocks."

The Eighth Doctor rose to his feet slowly, fingering his hair to see what color it truly was. Then the sounds of blaster-fire and explosions in the distance caught the new Doctor's attention. For a moment, flashes of memories from his older counterpart entered into his mind.

"We're at war, aren't we?" he asked Ten. "The anti-Military Act has failed?"

"I'm afraid so," Ten stated, offering Eight his hand to help him up.

"I should have been there," Padme sighed. "There could have been something I could have said, anything!"

"It's alright," Ten told her. "No one's blaming you. When that message from Kenobi got through, the Senate almost demanded that an army was made. Senator Organa was the one who proposed the Emergency Powers Act. The Chancellor then had total control and ordered the creation of this clone army: _fait accompli_."

"Wait, Bail?" Padme asked incredulously. "He's been a strong supporter of the opposition!"

"I don't know," Ten retorted. "Maybe it was peer pressure, maybe he wanted to help the Jedi, I just don't know! But they got to him and now the Chancellor has the powers of a dictator. The Constitution has, for all intents and purposes, been made null and void in this emergency case."

"But isn't that a good thing?" Anakin asked. "The Chancellor will have the power to get things done without having to go through the corrupt senators."

"Anakin, we're not all like that," Padme retorted. "Some of the Senators actually care about the common good or about the people they've been elected to serve."

"Yeah, listen," Ten interjected. "I'd love to stay here and chat about politics, but we're in the middle of a war here. I've been called to the front, we're taking on those Federation droid control ships." He turned to Eight. "Are you fit to follow me into battle?"

"Actually, I would have liked to..."

"There's no time!" Ten roared at his younger counterpart. "Listen, I know you respect life, I lived through you, I know everything you're thinking. But we're in a war. We're fighting droids, even less human than Daleks. But every moment we waste, _real_ people - Jedi, human officers, clones - are dying. You cherish life? Protect it with me."

"I suppose that's as good a reason as any," Eight shrugged. He reached into the over-large jacket of his former incarnation and activated the half of his umbrella, which sprouted the emerald blade of his lightsaber. "Green! Whatever was in my head when I thought of green? You know, my sixth incarnation had good tastes in lightsabers. I should like a blue focusing crystal for my next blade."

"Yes yes, we'll do that later," Ten sighed. "We're going now!" He turned to the others. "Unduli, Offee, you're with me. The clones will need your help on the battlefield. The rest of you back into the gunship. You're too valuable to risk on the front-lines."

"I want to fight!" Anakin interjected.

"And you'll get your chance," Ten assured him. "But now we need you in the air. You're the best star-pilot in the galaxy, I think even you could teach these clones a thing or two." He then turned to his counterpart. "Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," he sighed, gripping the blade of his emerald lightsaber with both hands.

"_Allons-y!_" the Tenth Doctor shouted, activating both blue lightsabers and leading the charge onto the plains of Geonosis. Duty drove him forward once again, though in his heart, he knew that he had failed again. War had begun, and he was going back into the heart of living hell, from which he had barely survived, though not unscarred. Even so, as he charged forward, lightsabers held firmly, waiting to break upon the lines of the Separatists' battle-droids, he realized that he had been hoodwinked.

The Doctor was playing right into the hands of history, against his own desire and will.

* * *

**(AN: Yay, Eight shows up!)**

**(Also, since Jar Jar isn't in this fic, I had Bail Organa propose the Emergency Powers Act. I mean, seriously, who would make Jar Jar a senator? Then again, a lot of stupid people are made senators, so I guess that makes sense. But I felt that Bail needs to have a personal involvement in current events. As those who know what happens later would learn, it would make his involvement in the Rebellion more personal, as he would feel personally responsible for what had happened. Also, I _really_ hated that in _The Force Unlea__shed_, the Rebellion were just made by Galen Marek as a tool for his personal vendetta against Darth Vader. Kind of makes all their ideology and sacrifice pretty useless.)  
**

**(Furthermore, and I thought I'd just throw this out there, even though they haven't met, that quote from Yoda in the last chapter I used because it fits to Obi-wan's temptation, and it also references the inner turmoil of the Doctor. He also has been walking the fine line between good and evil [he committed double genocide, yet has a problem if anyone else does it], therefore I thought it went well with that.)  
**


	20. The Sneak

**(AN: Yay, we're almost done with _AotC_. I've got lots of exciting stuff to put in _RotS_, so thank you for sticking through.)  
**

**(I don't know if I've said it as vehemently in my other author's notes, but I really do not like the cg/cartoon _Clone Wars_ tv-show. Not only is Ahsoka Tano a Disney Jedi Princess with all the personality of Rapunzel [even more so now that Lucas sold _Star Wars_ to Disney], but the war is dumbed down to the level of a children's serial. A _war!_ I remember when the Second Iraq War began in 2002-2003, there was a constant atmosphere of fear that at any moment, terrorists might attack. It wasn't fun, and I didn't even have anyone of my family directing involved in the fighting! Now imagine that on a galactic scale where, thanks to hyperdrive, the Separatists could literally attack anywhere at any time in the blink of an eye. And, despite what George Lucas and the cartoon _Clone Wars_ might tell us, the droids aren't silly little pit-droids with tons of personality and funny one-liners, they're emotionless killing machines. The Clone Wars were awful, and I think the cartoon story glamorizes it.)  
**

**(To that end, I won't have any characters from the Clone Wars appear in this story. They might be mentioned [as in this story], but they won't appear. Yes, I was tempted to bring out that non-canonical Shaak Tii execution scene from _RotS_ but have it happen to Tano, but then I thought that even that wasn't right so I won't have it. Baby "Snips" Togruta goes the way of Jar Jar in my story.)  
**

* * *

**The Sneak**

_Kill the Dark Jedi, he said. Help me even though I won't trust you, he said._

River was going through his instructions over and over in her mind throughout the years she had spent scouring the galaxy for the agents of Darth Sidious. From the first incarnation of the Doctor, she had learned that he was on Coruscant somewhere and was behind the 'anomaly' that the younger-looking Doctor had been investigating. But she had little time to follow up this lead, for she had other things that occupied her time.

While the ten years between the Naboo Occupation and now were passed swiftly in the TARDIS, River had to make up for the time she had gone over by hunting down the Dark Jedi. With Romana's help, she had managed to kill Asajj Ventriss, Sev'rance Tann and Savage Opress. But during the duel with Ventriss, the Nightsister had let slip something about an operation that was so great that it would soon have the Republic at the knees of the Sith. Leaving Rose Tyler in the protection of Romana on Alderaan, River took the TARDIS and traveled about the worlds, looking for any further evidence on this project. However, the only information that she had discovered led her to the one place she did not want to visit again.

_Had Abbadon._

The memories of her first venture there still clung to her mind as she gripped the TARDIS' console and flew her way through the Inner Core. The images came back, but now she was alone, as she had been her whole life. That was the way she liked it, no Doctor to dictate her life for her and no responsibilities to anyone. But it also meant that she was destined to end up living an artificial half-life, one in which she could never again be with her beloved Doctor.

As she knew the way onto the Imperial fortress, it was no problem now to infiltrate the fortress and hack the mainframe. What she found here, however, was so much information that it made her head - part-human and part-Timelord - spin. Troop orders, battle-plans, layouts of future invasion points: what River Song was seeing was the entire three years of the future of the galaxy all laid out and planned. Two files, however, caught her attention: one was entitled _Battle-station _and the other an order file from the troop order folder.

She opened the _Battle-station_ folder and was flooded by scores of information. She scanned the Aurebesh characters as fast as her gray-blue eyes could take. Names flashed into her mind: Raith Sienar, Tol Sivron, Bevel Lemelisk, Qui Xux, Geonosian Industries, Mygeeto, the Maw, Rorax Falken, Despayre, Byss and, of course, Had Abbadon. She determined that what she had been seeing was nothing other than the prototype plans for a planet-size battle-station. It seemed Darth Sidious did not fully trust the Geonosians, nor his new apprentice, with the project.

Her fingers moved across the keypad, keying up the order file designated '66.' A password entry bank appeared. She still had the Doctor's sonic screwdriver and used it on the keypad. Very carefully, she typed up the password, then waited as the holographic screen showed a few lines of text. She gasped as she saw an addendum that was not supposed to be there.

_You've done rather well, sneaking in here, thief,_ a voice spoke in her head. _Unfortunately, you will never leave this place alive_.

River turned about and, to her horror, saw that she had been discovered. A group of pale humanoids in robes of dark colors - black, crimson, violet and blue - slowly approached where she stood. The tallest one, whose face was more like a skull than a true face, was leering at her. It was his threatening words that had spoken into her mind, and his cruel laughter that was still echoing inside. She saw one of them, a squint-eyed fellow a head shorter than the tall one with a thin, drooping mustache, reach for something out of the folds of his robe. The others followed suit. River smiled as she removed from her belt her own lightsaber and that of Savage Opress.

"Well, now, let's to it, then!" she said with reckless abandon.

* * *

**(AN: _Return of the Jedi_ was my favorite movie, and, being one who loves the boundaries of any fandom of which I'm apart of, I always ask myself about the Inner Circle. Who were they, and why were they needed, especially if, as _Revenge of the Sith_ seems to hint, Palpatine has ultimate power over the Senate _and_ the Jedi? The Expanded Universe hints that they are Dark Jedi, servants of Sidious, and yes, they do have lightsabers. Red ones. That is key, especially if you have been reading _The Doctor's Star Wars_. Well, I needed a cool battle, since Yoda's been cut [to further his mystique].)**


	21. Siege of Coruscant

**(AN: We finally got to _Revenge of the Sith_!)  
**

* * *

**Siege of Coruscant**

_Three years later..._

The skies above Coruscant were alight with fire. Separatist dreadnoughts and giant, ring-shaped Federation droid control ships littered the low orbit, firing at the Republic fleet. The _Venator_-class Stardestroyers out-ranked the older _Acclamator_-class destroyers used during the early years and could hold their own in a prolonged fire-fight. ARC-170 starfighters and V-wings soared against the Federation droid starfighters and Vulture droids. Over the communication lines, the sound of the last moments of dying clone pilots roared in everyone's ears.

On board the _Victory_, first of the new _Victory_-class Stardestroyers and one of the few ones in active service, the Tenth Doctor stood side by side with Captain Jan Dodonna. He had stayed with him and the captain had come to recognize the Doctor as a strong ally, a worthy friend and a good fighter. These two were observing the battle. Mere hours ago, the Separatist fleet had come out of hyperspace in orbit over Coruscant, using a little-used hyper-lane. But worse than this, they had gotten away with, of all people, Chancellor Palpatine. While this would be disagreeable and tragic under normal circumstances, over the past three years, the Republic had become so centralized around the Supreme Chancellor that to lose him would be a death-blow to the Republic.

"We're receiving a message from the _Liberator_," one of the gray-uniformed technicians called up from the command pit, over which stood the Doctor and Captain Dodonna, staring out the wide view-ports at the battle.

"On audio," Dodonna ordered.

"Red Squadron and Gold Squadron have launched," the voice of the commander of the _Liberator_ spoke. "Repeat, Kenobi and Skywalker have launched."

"There's our cue, Doctor," Dodonna said to the Timelord.

The Doctor walked over to the communications pit and took over the console from the technician, who gave Captain Dodonna a quizzical look. These new recruits weren't the same as the clone pilots who were in control of almost everything at the start of the war. That they had been rushed through training as the need for more command level recruits was needed was not even the worst of it: some of them couldn't even shoot straight. The clones, at least, knew by now that the Doctor's wishes were usually granted because, when they were, they brought about victory with a very minimum of casualties. The recruits weren't that way. They kept looking up to their commanders for orders, as though they were incapable of thinking for themselves.

"Are you ready, down there?" Ten said into the communications console.

"Yes, I would say so," the Eighth Doctor's voice called back. "Blue Squadron reports ready. On your signal."

Ten looked up at Captain Dodonna. "Blue Squad's ready."

"Launch Blue Squad," the captain said.

The Doctor waited with baited breath as he saw his earlier counterpart on the holo-screen, backed by a squadron of ARC-170s, leaving the hangar of the _Liberator_. His was the blue-colored Delta-7 Aethersprite interceptor, similar to those used by Saesee Tiin and Plo Koon in the Outer Rim sieges. Ten didn't like going to war, even though he knew it was needful. His plan was endangered every time they charged into battle at the head of a clone army, lightsabers active. So far, both of them had managed to survive: but that didn't make anything better, especially for Ten, who stood shoulder-by-shoulder with the clones as they fought and died on the front-lines.

But these were dark times. War had created an atmosphere of fear. The disarmament act was child's play to what had happened in the wake of the war. Power was slowly but surely being given to the Chancellor, who had managed to stay in office longer than his term. Many believed that the Senate demanded that he stay in office, due to his efficiency in governing the Republic in these dark times: the Doctor didn't believe those. He could see the liberties being taken away one by one in the name of security and peace within the Republic. Furthermore, he was affiliated with the Jedi by nothing more than his choice to use a lightsaber and his friendship with Obi-wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. The Jedi were not unaffected by the times either. Due to their refusal to submit to the disarmament act, they were viewed as uncooperative and elitist at best and rabble-rousers and potential enemies at worst. After all, the general public didn't know or believe in the Sith and therefore they saw the leader of the Separatists, Count Dooku, as a Jedi. To them, the Jedi were capable of becoming bad and, with Count Dooku as an example, were a potential threat that refused to answer to reasonable demands of the Republic and the Chancellor.

Therefore the Jedi played politics and many chose to serve the Republic by fighting on the front-lines. Many had dispersed among the Outer Rim, where the Separatists still had a great hold. Plo Koon was on Cato Nemoidia, striking at the heart of the Trade Federation, Luminara and Barriss were on Kashyyyk, aiding Master Yoda and the Wookies against a long-planned siege by the Federation that had been uncovered by the famous Delta-Squadron of clone commandos, Quinlan Vos was preparing to siege Boz Pity, Ki-Addi Mundi was entrenched on Mygeeto while Aayla Secura was investigating a Separatist factory on Felucia. Many of the most powerful Jedi were scattered, attending important business on the Outer Rim. While they did their best against the Separatists, more often than not they were being depicted by the Holo-Net as less than fully successful. Victories were attributed to the skill and bravery of the enlisted officers and clone troops, while the losses were the fault of the Jedi.

Needless to say, the Doctor could see what was going on and worse, he was powerless to stop it.

* * *

"We're on our way," Eight spoke into his communicator head-set. "Blue Wing, report in."

One after another, nine identical Mandalorian voices chimed reported in.

"S-foils to attack posture," Eight ordered. "Let's lend Red squad a hand, shall we?"

"As you order, sir."

"Remember," Ten's voice spoke on the head-set. "No heroics. If you get hit, you're likely to get depressurized before you can regenerate. It would mean the death of both of us."

"You do go on about that," Eight shook his head. "What happened to that paradox machine on the TARDIS? Isn't that why the two of us are here?"

"Four of us," Ten corrected. "Our first incarnation is back on Coruscant and the other one..."

"Which other one?" Eight asked. "Is it my fourth incarnation? Oh, how I missed that one: all teeth and curls. And jelly-babies too."

"Pay attention!" Ten nigh shouted. "Because if you die, then I cease to exist. If that happens, it could unravel our time-stream and bring the Reapers on us faster than the Weeping Angels."

"So, stay alive, then," Eight stated cheekily. "Easy enough."

"We've made it this far," Ten replied grimly. "We're survivors, you and I. Just stay alive."

"Sir!" one of the clones spoke up.

"What is it, Blue Five?" Eight asked.

"Another ship has dropped out of hyperspace," Blue Five reported. "0.35, just behind our fleet."

"Can you describe it?"

"It's a Z-95 Headhunter," the clone said. "But those don't come with hyperdrive, do they?"

"No, they don't," Eight shook his head. "Keep your eyes open, it could be another mercenary." Eight pressed a button on his console, and an image of the Headhunter appeared on his dashboard. Using his sonic screwdriver, he picked up the ship's frequency and inlaid it into his comm-set. "Unidentified Z-95, this is Blue Leader. You are entering Republic space in the middle of a war-zone. Power down or you will be..."

"Hello, Blue Leader. This is Bad Wolf," a young woman's voice with a Cockney British accent responded. "The Doctor, where is he?"

"I'm the Doctor," Eight replied.

"No, you're not," said Bad Wolf. "He's got a younger voice, a bit more chipper. Listen, we're running out of time. I need to speak with the Doctor, the _real_ Doctor, right away. It's urgent!"

"I'll see what I can do." Eight responded. He then keyed on the main channel. "Blue Leader to Liberty. Specs, are you there?"

"Oh, so I'm Specs again?" Ten asked.

"A Headhunter just dropped out of hyperspace," Eight reported. "The pilot said she had to speak with you immediately. She said it was urgent."

"What was her name?"

"Bad Wolf."

Deathly silence followed, broken only by the death-cries of pilots as they failed to survive the battle programs of their droid adversaries. Eight saw a Vulture droid pass dangerously close by his wing and put himself in a spin. After recovering, he turned about and pursued the droid as it was making its way after Gold Leader, Anakin Skywalker. He moved in front of the droid, dumped a portion of his fuel behind him and at the same time, aimed the sonic screwdriver at the Vulture droid. The gaseous release gave the sound-waves of the Timelord's fix-all device enough travel space to reach the droid's memory circuits and deactivate it in the dead of space.

The Tenth Doctor had still not answered him.

* * *

"Hello?" Eight asked. "Are you there?"

"What did she say her name was again?" Ten finally spoke. "Bad Wolf, are you _sure_ that's what she said?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" Eight responded. "You should speak to her. I'm a little busy right now."

"Send me her hailing frequency," Ten ordered. The Aurebesh symbols appeared on the holo-readout, then Ten keyed them in and spoke into the console. "Rose, is that you?"

"Doctor!" the voice of Rose Tyler exclaimed. "That is you, I mean, the proper you! Not that tall, lanky, eyebrow-less child who's obsessed with bow-ties. _The_ you!"

"Yeah, I'm still not sure what you're talking about," Ten stated.

"Remember? We were on Hoth, in the trenches."

"Yes, but that hasn't happened yet," Ten dismissed. "At least, if it _has_ happened already, I don't remember it." He shook his head. "Listen, Rose, you've got to get out of here. This is a war!"

"I've been in many battles before, Doctor," Rose stated. "Besides, I've flown before as well. I kind of like the Z-95. It flies easier than those clunky old Y-wings."

"Rose, this isn't a game!"

"Of course it's not!" she replied. "She's coming for you, that crazy blond woman with the frizzy hair. I think she's mental. She said something about getting your attention the hard way."

Ten suddenly became serious. "Where is she? Rose, you've got to tell me where she is. And where's Romana?"

"I think she's back on Coruscant," Rose said. "Something about Had Abbadon, she said the older Doctor needed to know what happened. Listen, she's coming for you, she's gonna do something..."

Suddenly, one of the technicians shouted up from the command pit.

"Captain!" he said to Dodonna. "Something's come out of hyperspace directly in front of us. It looks like a..."

"Like a what?" Dodonna asked.

Ten looked up and both of his hearts dropped. For the past thirteen years, he had been stuck here, unable to do anything of real importance because _she_, the woman whom Rose had spoken of, had stolen it. But now there it was again, and there she was waving from the open door, blowing kisses at him as though she were giving a cheeky greeting to her loved one. It was the blond woman with the frizzy hair, River Song.

That thing directly in front of the _Victory_ was the TARDIS.

* * *

**(AN: Yes, lots and lots of fun stuff going on! Rose is back [she needs to come back, as far as wrapping up the time-line] and so is River Song and instantly, you know mayhem is about to happen.)**


	22. Endings and Continuations

**(AN: Is anyone here reading this a follower of or have read my _Ozian Adventures_ series before? I kind of started that in the middle of _LittleGreenFae_'s version, since she didn't feel like continuing it and I got her permission to continue the story. But then I felt like going back and re-posting the whole story from the beginning of _Fellowship of the Ring_. I don't know if she would allow that, nor does it seem really "credible", but the grammatical errors and story inconsistencies [how easily our Ozians just plunge right into the War of the Ring, even though, as I said in this story, war is hell] were my desire, NOT passing off her work as my own. I don't know...)  
**

**(I just thought I'd get that off my chest, and I've got no other place to put it, since my _Wicked_ fan-fics have ground to a halt through disinterest and this is my most active one. Sorry if it was a little bit off-topic. Don't worry, you'll love this chapter.)  
**

* * *

**Endings and Continuations**

"Who is that, Doctor?" Captain Dodonna asked.

"I don't know," Ten said grimly. "And I don't like not knowing. Open hailing frequencies."

"How?" Dodonna asked again. "I mean...it's a _box_! A blue box just floating in space! I can't even see atmosphere shields on those doors, how can she even survive the vacuum?"

"There are atmosphere shields," Ten replied. "They're invisible."

"But what is it?" Dodonna asked as Ten ran to the communications bay and began relaying hailing frequencies to the technician. "How could a box fly in space?"

"It's called a TARDIS: Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. Told simply, it's a space-ship of my people." He then leaned in and spoke into the comm-unit. "_Victory_ to the TARDIS, come in."

"Hello sweetie."

"Give me back the TARDIS now!"

"It's not even your TARDIS to begin with," River Song retorted. "Now just sit back and let me do all the work, sweetie."

"What are you doing?" Ten asked. "Give me back the TARDIS!"

"If I were you, sweetie," she returned. "I would look out the view-port of your Stardestroyer. Rather large, really: compensating, are we, sweetie?"

Ten looked up at the view-port and saw the TARDIS spinning, then suddenly the Stardestroyer gave a mighty lurch forward.

"Report!" Dodonna ordered.

"We're caught in some kind of tractor beam!" one of the technicians shouted.

"Where is it coming from?"

"That blue box, sir."

"But that's impossible!" Dodonna exclaimed. "It's too small to have sufficient energy cells to pull something this large."

"It could pull a planet with it's tractor beam," Ten stated, then turned back to the communications console. "What are you doing?"

"Getting your attention, sweetie," River Song's cheeky voice replied. "You've been playing on the wrong side for far too long."

"She's a Separatist!" exclaimed the technician.

"No," Ten shook his head. "Just insane."

"I heard that, sweetie," River retorted. "And if we're talking about insanity, what shall we say about you, O lonely god?"

"I'm not open to discussion or scrutiny," Ten answered.

"Is that what you said when you burned Skaro and Gallifrey?" River asked. "Two races annihilated by your hand alone, not to mention all the killing you've done in this war. You're even worse than General Grievous."

"I had to do that!" Ten shouted. "If not, none of this would exist. The Daleks wanted to exterminate all non-Dalek life, and the Timelords were going to wipe away all of existence!"

"Sir, we're being pulled towards the _Rescue_!" the technician shouted, staring in fear at the main view-port.

Ten looked up and saw, to his horror, that the technician, for once, knew what he was talking about. The TARDIS was pulling the _Liberty_ on a ramming course into the _Rescue_, a smaller _Venator_-class Stardestroyer.

"All reverse!" Dodonna shouted.

"The engines aren't responding!" the technician shouted.

"Lock in auxiliary power!" the captain ordered.

"It's no use," Ten said, gazing at the steadily approaching Stardestroyer. "Nothing you have can pull this ship out of the tractor beam lock." He ran back to the comm-station. "Listen to me, thousands of people are going to die if you don't stop the TARDIS right now!"

"Why? This is so much fun. You're paying attention now."

"Fun? This is your idea of fun?"

"You don't need to be such a gloomy gus, sweetie," River's voice taunted. "Besides, you've killed billions."

"I'm the Doctor, what's your excuse?"

"I'm your wife."

"What?"

Suddenly, another voice appeared on the communications line.

"Red Leader to _Liberty_," Obi-wan's voice said. "What's your status? You're moving directly towards the _Rescue_ on a collision course."

"We're caught in a tractor beam, Red Leader," Dodonna replied.

"I see it," Gold Leader, Anakin Skywalker, added. "That little blue box ten meters in front of the command tower. I can take it out, just give me the word."

"No, don't do that!" Ten shouted, running over to Dodonna's comm-station. "It would rip a hole in the universe, make a solar singularity so large, it would be a second sun. Everyone on Coruscant would be incinerated instantly, not to mention all of us."

"I agree, bad idea." Skywalker replied. "Master, is there anything we can do for them?"

"Haven't I told you not to call me 'Master', Anakin?" the older Jedi asked. "You're almost thirty now and have been a fully-trained Jedi Knight since the war began."

"Old habits die hard, as they say," the younger Jedi commented. "_Liberty_, do you need any assistance?"

"Negative," Ten replied. "Stay to your mission, we'll figure something out. I am the Doctor, after all."

"The captain of the _Rescue_ is hailing us," the technician announced. "He says we're approaching zero safe distance. If we don't move now, it will be impossible to correct our course without damaging both ships."

"Tell them of our situation," Dodonna said. "We can't reverse our engines!"

"No, but I have an idea," the Doctor spoke up.

"Out with it," ordered Dodonna.

"Well, it's rather mad, actually," the Doctor started. "Completely bonkers, with a 1% chance of success. But I have to do it."

"Do what?"

"Okay, captain, on my mark, I want you to open the view-port," the Doctor began, but was interrupted.

"Are you mad, Doctor?" Dodonna shouted. "The viewer doesn't open and even if it did, the bridge would be depressurized in moments. It would kill us all!"

"Alright, do they at least have blast-shields that will keep the bridge from depressurizing?"

"Well, yes, in the case of an emergency, but..."

"No time to argue, captain," the Doctor shook his head. He removed his sonic screwdriver from his pocket and aimed it at the center view-port of the _Liberty_'s bridge.

"_Allons-y!_" he shouted, pointing the screwdriver at the view-port and activating it.

There were few things that the sonic screwdriver could not manipulate. Fortunately, transparasteel - the thick glass-like substance used in the windows and view-ports of capital ships - was not one of those substances, nor was the durasteel frame on which they were fixated. The transparasteel panel broke free with a sudden roar as the bridge of the _Liberty_ was suddenly being depressurized. But the Doctor wasn't afraid. While Timelords, like most species, could not survive in the vacuum of space, he wasn't playing on staying there for long. As there was no gravity, except on the bridge, all he would have to do was jump forward towards the TARDIS.

For about ten meters, the Doctor flew straight through the vacuum of space. It was nothing he hadn't seen before from the open door of his TARDIS, but actually being out in it was something unique all-together, even for a Timelord. Then he saw it, directly in front of him, and felt oxygen passing through his lungs as he dove through the atmospheric shield around it. He clutched at the box for all he was worth, feeling for the door. His left hand found it and he pushed it in. Then, holding on with only his left hand, he swung himself about and crashed through the doors and fell onto the floor, back in his TARDIS.

"Hello sweetie," River greeted as he slowly rose to his feet.

"Alright, I'm here, you got my attention, now shut off the tractor beam!"

"Didn't you hear?" River asked. "The _Liberty_'s just passed zero safe distance. So many people are going to die."

"But they can't!" Ten argued. "Jan Dodonna doesn't die, he survives the Clone War then goes on to join the Rebel Alliance and lives out the remainder of his days on New Alderaan."

"I wasn't going to hurt him," River said. "But the others, they had to go."

"What others?" Ten asked.

"You're the one who knows everyone's fate, Doctor," River replied, suddenly using his title. "You know what's going to happen _this_ year, the 19th year before the Battle of Yavin."

"But that's a fixed point," Ten retorted. "That can't be changed, and even if it were, it would have dire consequences."

"I have a paradox machine and know where the order files are located," River argued. "You need to wake up and stop taking orders from humans. The Chancellor is corrupt, the Jedi are right in that, and Dooku is right as well: there _is_ a Dark Lord of the Sith controlling the Republic."

"But those are fixed points, they can't be altered!" Ten stated. "And why should I trust you anyway? You stole the TARDIS."

"You asked me to keep an eye on it, to protect you," River admitted at last. She sighed, realizing that she had gone too far. No more charade, he would _have_ to be told the truth.

"I never told you this," Ten asked, his eyebrows arching as he scrutinized this strange woman.

"You _will_ tell me this, in your future," River said. "I'm your wife from the future."

"Why are you telling me this?" Ten asked. "What happened to your loathing of spoilers?"

"People are going to die, but even more people will die unless you trust me." River said. She then walked over to the Doctor and whispered something in his ear. When she pulled away, his large brown eyes seemed to explode within their sockets. What she had whispered in his ear was the answer to the first question, the question hiding in plain sight, the question that must _never_ be answered.

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"Spoilers, sweetie," she replied, a sad smile on her face.

"But there's no way you could have known that," the Doctor replied. "No way at all, unless I told you myself." He ran his hands through his short, spiky hair, musing for a while. Then suddenly he jumped as he remembered something important. He ran to the TARDIS console and shifted its course aside. He then pulled down one of the television-like screens and keyed in on the TARDIS console the communication frequency.

"Blue Box to _Liberty_," Ten said. "I've altered your course. There's still going to be a collision, but don't worry about that. It'll only be on the forward starboard side of the ship's hull, easily repaired. Stay the course and do not, I repeat, do NOT fire on this blue box. Blue Box out."

"What the hell have you done?" River asked. "Do you know how many lives could have been saved?"

"We've already caused enough damage to this time-stream," the Doctor said. "Now it's time to repair it all." He keyed in another comm-frequency. "Blue Leader, are you there? This is the Doctor, I've retaken the TARDIS."

"Smashing!" the voice of the Eighth Doctor sounded. "We've got a new development, though. Skywalker and Kenobi have set a course towards the _Invisible Hand_. Apparently the shields are dropping, but the order didn't come from the bridge, I've been decoding their communications. It looks like someone inside the ship has reversed the polarity of the neutron flow to the main hangar shields of the _Invisible Hand_, but the location was not from the bridge."

"'Reverse the polarity...'" Ten muttered. "Blimey, I miss that one. Repeat, are you saying our Third incarnation is on board the _Invisible Hand_?"

"It looks that way," Eight replied. "I'm going in, keep an eye on Skywalker. Remember our mission?"

"Yes, of course," Ten said. "I'll be around shortly with the TARDIS. Blue Box out." He threw the main lever on the TARDIS console then held on, as River did.

"This is just about the time where you say 'Geromino', sweetie," River said with a smile.

"'Geronimo?'" Ten asked oddly. "I say '_allons-y_.'Who would say 'Geronimo?' That's just silly!"

"That's what _you_ say."

"And since you seem to know more about me than I myself do, would you mind telling me why I say 'Geronimo' in the future?"

"Can't. Spoilers." River winked at him cheekily.

The TARDIS whirred and whined as it phased through the thick hull of the _Invisible Hand_. The TARDIS came to a halt, then the Doctor walked up to the door and opened it, only to find himself surrounded by battle-droids, all of them aiming their blasters directly at him.

"Drop your weapons," the droids said in a soulless drone, similar to the Cybermen.

"Uh, hello," Ten said, pulling his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. "I don't have any weapons, just this."

But that was enough. He clicked the screwdriver on and the droids collapsed, completely disabled. He then stepped out of the TARDIS, stepping over the droids carefully, and River kept up the rear guard and locked the TARDIS behind her. At the far end of the hangar sat three Jedi starfighters. Out of one of them came the Eighth Doctor. They made their way toward him.

"Hello, handsome," River said to the Eighth Doctor.

"You again," Eight said, smiling. "Always charming, seeing you." He reached into his pockets and offered them jelly babies.

"Jedi robes?" River asked, looking at what the Eighth Doctor was wearing.

"I've been acting as a secret agent inside the Temple on Coruscant," the Doctor said. "It's been my task to help the Jedi stay ahead of the curve in the war. So far, they've been facing nothing but censure and public disapproval. Need all the help they can get."

"Yeah, we can catch up later," Ten said. "Right now, however, we've got to find our other self."

"For once, sweetie, you're talking sense," River said.

"_Allons-y_!" Ten shouted, darting off down one of the hallways that terminated at the main hangar bay. Behind followed River and Eight.

* * *

They were running down the hallway until they found a sight that shocked and disturbed them. Kneeling in the middle of the hallway was the tall, white-haired form of the Doctor's third incarnation. On either side of him were two IG-100 battle-droids, gun-metal gray with red eyes and vibro-staves in their hand. These were possibly worse than normal battle-droids. These "Magna-guards", as they were called by Republic forces, were emotionless and powerful: made to fight Jedi, they were the personal guards of General Grievous.

"Doctor!" both Ten and Eight said at once.

"Stay back!" Three said to them. "He's here! I'm sorry, Doctors. I've f..."

But in that instance, he was hacked in half by a lightsaber sweep from behind. From out of the shadows appeared the cybernetic figure of General Grievous, yellow eyes glaring at the Doctors.

"It's been too long, Doctors," the General growled. He then looked down at the Third Doctor and removed his lightsaber from his severed jacket. "A valiant effort, but futile. His lightsaber will be mine now."

Ten slowly walked towards General Grievous, a fire burning in his brown eyes that made both River and Eight look at him with worry.

"You think you frighten me, general," Ten said to him, his voice no longer jovial. "Do you know what they call me on Skaro? The Oncoming Storm!" He raised his sonic screwdriver at the general and activated it.

General Grievous collapsed, hacking and coughing and his life-support systems were being shut down. River and Eight looked at the Doctor with shock. It was one of the first times they had seen him torture someone to death. He merely looked on with a steely gaze, solid and unmoving, illuminated fearfully by the glow of golden light from the floor.

The Doctor suddenly stepped back and held his hands over his eyes as he saw the golden light shining from both pieces of his earlier counterpart's severed body. There was a sudden burst of regeneration energy, knocking the two Doctors and River off their feet. But the droids, who were nearest to the Doctor's body, exploded. Slowly the light began to fade and they found a single body lying face up on the floor of the hallway. They ran to his side and saw that it was one of the first faces Ten had seen after his rescue from the Death Star almost nineteen years in the future.

"I need a jelly baby," the Fourth incarnation of the Doctor sighed as he awoke from his latest regeneration.

* * *

**(AN: I really liked Eight, I wish he had been in more than just the _Doctor Who_ movie, and I'm glad he'll be back for the 50th anniversary show. I still think they could have made a movie about the Time War and had Paul McGann [and Christopher Eccleston if he stopped snubbing _Doctor Who_ just like Ritchie Blackmore snubs rock music and _Deep Purple_] in it. I would have loved it.)**

**(As far as classic Who, I've been watching _The Three Doctors_ and _The Five Doctors_ and while I still love the 1st Doctor and how lordly he is, I'm starting to like the 3rd Doctor. A noble fellow, to be certain. Also, while watching _The Five Doctors_, I saw that David Tennant wasn't lying when he said Peter Davison was "his Doctor." They both walk with both hands in their pockets [maybe it's a little thing, but I saw it as a kind of personality quirk that both kept]. And I loved the lines "Like Alice, I try to believe more than six impossible things before breakfast" and "As it turns out, I'm the Doctor: the _original_, you might say!" Priceless!)  
**

**(As I'm starting to like Three, it kind of bugged me to have him appear only once in my story, but we need Four back into his timeline as well, and the only way to get him would be to have the 2nd Doctor regenerate into the 4th Doctor, so yay, Tom Baker's back! I hope you can see what I'm leading up to [it will be VERY essential later on])  
**


	23. Rescue from Above

**(AN: I had a really epic moment in _The Doctor's Star Wars_, so obviously I've got to top myself in this one. Title is a draw-back to those old sci-fi shows with melodramatic titles, such as that.)  
**

* * *

**Rescue from Above**

Eight was the first one to respond, pulling out a bag of jelly babies from his bigger-on-the-inside pockets.

"What color?" he asked.

"Orange," Four requested.

Eight rummaged through the bag and removed three orange jelly babies, which he popped into Four's open mouth.

"Alright, we need to get going," Ten said, examining the hallway. "Somebody will find out sooner or later that General Grievous is dead." He turned to his counterpart. "Can you stand? Do we need to carry you?"

"No, no, I'll be alright," Four assured him. "Where's my lightsaber?"

"Over here," Ten said, leaning over to Grievous' fallen body and removing the blue lightsaber. He held it out before Four's eyes, but he shook his head.

"Sometimes, one grows tired of lightsabers," Four said. "Sometimes, one grows tired of everything. Except jelly babies."

"Yes, that's lovely, now can we get moving, please?" Ten asked. "They're coming for us!"

"Sweetie, I think I know how we can evade them," River suggested.

"How?" all three of the Doctors asked.

"The fuselage," River said. "They won't use blasters in there, for fear of igniting the fuel and blowing the ship to hell. It's our best bet."

"Personally, I'd rather not like to smell like engine fuel, thank you very much," Four stated.

"It's a good option," Eight retorted.

"It might be our only option," River added.

"Droidekas!" Ten shouted.

River and Eight activated their lightsabers as one, while Ten activated his to keep them guarded while they cut away at the floor. One by one they dropped below, with Four crawling in after them. When he was aware that he was alone, Ten slowly backed away and stepped backwards into the fuel pipe. He went down and then came up, gasping for air.

"Ah, blimey!" he exclaimed. "Do not inhale that stuff in, it'll burn the hair out of your nostrils!"

"This way, sweetie," River said, as they started swimming through the thick fuel. It was harder than swimming through water, as it was thicker and a bit more resistant than water. Also, the Doctors were heavily clad: Ten had his trench coat, Eight his Jedi robes and Four was dressed in the garb of his previous companion, which is to say, dressed like a Victorian gentleman, or at least in mock Victorian garb, using fabrics and synthetics from this era. It seemed, for a while, that all was going smoothly when suddenly, a current was kicked up against them.

"Hang on to something!" River shouted. They gripped on to whatever they could and watched as the fuel was drained out of the tunnel. Suddenly it was empty and they let go and slipped onto the floor. One by one they rose to their feet, with River turning back to Ten and smiling at him cheekily. Her clothes were drenched, as were her tight-fitting black pants.

"Like what you see, sweetie?" River asked. The Tenth Doctor was still on his knees and had the closest view.

"Oh, come on," Ten sighed. "I'm not like that, am I?"

"It's alright, you can ogle at your own wife," River winked at him. "Besides, I'm just taking the mickey out of you."

"Oh, Mickey," Ten remembered fondly. "Mickey the Idiot. He'll end up doing something important before the end."

"If this is what I come to, I shudder to think what my future will be," Four said. "Knowing my luck, I'll be haunted by an infuriating Victorian girl who's a fixed point in time."

"I like the sound of that," River said with a smile.

"I don't," Eight, Ten and Four said as one.

Suddenly, the Doctor's comlink started beeping. Ten pulled it out of his soaked trench coat and spoke into it.

"Specs here," he said.

"Doctor!" Rose's voice cried. "Help! My ship's under attack, there's these...oh, get off, you bloody...metal...buggers!"

"Buzz-droids?" Ten asked.

"I think so," Rose replied. "Help! They're tearing my ship apart!"

"Hold on, we'll be right there," Ten said. He then turned about and aimed his sonic screwdriver before him. Immediately, the whirring sound of the TARDIS materializing was heard as it appeared inside the fuel tunnel.

"Still leaving the brakes on, sweetie," River said frustratedly.

"I like that noise," Ten said, pocketing the sonic screwdriver.

"Me too," Four and Eight said as one.

Once inside, Ten began setting the TARDIS for its next course. In the rear, Four was closing the door up but Ten told him not to.

"We're going to fly the TARDIS right over her Headhunter and pick her up out of it," Ten said.

"And she'll be inside the atmospheric shield, so she'll be safe," Eight added. "I like how you think."

"Well, of course, it's how _you_ think," Ten smirked. "Now, all we need is some strong cable, in case we require..."

"Heads up, sweetie, we're there," River said.

Ten turned his eyes out to the open door and saw, perpendicular with the floor of the TARDIS, the Z-95 Headhunter, crawling with Buzz-droids, tearing the small ship apart. After a quick examination, Ten found a cable just beneath the console of the TARDIS, which he hooked to the ringed-edge, then leaned out as far as he could without stepping outside of the TARDIS proper. With his sonic screwdriver, he shut down two Buzz-droids, but most of them were too far away for the sound waves to travel to them through the vacuum. One jumped into the TARDIS, but it shut down almost instantly. Perhaps the TARDIS had a mind of its own in more ways than the Doctor had originally thought. But his mind wasn't on the TARDIS right now, it was on Rose.

"I've lost control of my ship!" she exclaimed.

"Listen," Ten stated into the comlink. "I need you to open the canopy of your ship. Repeat, open the canopy."

"Are you daft, Doctor?" Rose queried incredulously. "D'you know what'll happen if I open my canopy in the midst of outer space? My eyeballs'll get sucked out of my skull!"

"Well, not exactly," Ten began rambling, but caught himself early on. "It doesn't matter, you're inside the TARDIS' atmospheric shield, you'll be alright. Now open up the canopy and stand up as high as you can. I'm going to catch you and pull you up into the TARDIS. See? I'm right above you." He saw Rose look up at him and he waved.

"I don't know about this!" she exclaimed.

"Do you trust me?" Ten asked.

"With my life, of course," Rose said. "But you promised to take me back home as soon as you had the chance and you broke that promise, Doctor."

"I know, and I'm sorry, I'm so terribly sorry," Ten apologized. "But you've got to jump, now! If your computer short-circuits because of those Buzz-droids, you could be burned alive inside your cockpit. Now open the canopy and jump up to me!"

For a moment that seemed to last an hour, there was nothing but the grinding and whistling of the Buzz-droids hacking away at the Z-95. Then suddenly the canopy flipped open and there sat Rose, unstrapping herself from her cockpit. With great effort - though she was inside the TARDIS' atmospheric shield, gravity was still very weak and sitting up would be nigh impossible - she pushed herself out of the cockpit and upward through the tiny space of vacuum. Her hand enclosed upon the Doctor's while below her, the Z-95 finally exploded. The TARDIS had pulled away fast enough to avoid the concussion.

With all the strength in his thin frame, the Tenth Doctor yanked Rose into the TARDIS and breathed a sigh of relief as they were finally away and moving back down towards the planet. He felt a hand over his right heart and looked up. To his surprise and slight discomfort, Rose was lying on top of him. He had never noticed before just how big her lips were until they were this close.

"Ahem," River cleared her throat.

"Doctor, get back!" Rose shouted, removing the blaster from her belt and aiming it at River.

"It's alright," Ten said, rising to his feet. "She's on our side, for now. And Rose, whatever happened to you and blasters?"

"I'm a soldier," Rose replied. "I need to use a blaster."

"This isn't what I wanted for you," Ten admitted.

"Yes, you told me that in the future," Rose stated. "Still, how can you trust her?"

"_She_ is still here," River coldly stated. "And _she_ doesn't approve of how close you were to _her_ husband."

"It was an accident," both Ten and Rose said as one.

Suddenly, the TARDIS console was flaring. Eight was the first one to reach it.

"It's Skywalker and Kenobi," he called back. "They've rescued the Chancellor and killed Count Dooku, but they encountered Darth Maul. Apparently the _Invisible Hand_ is on a collision course with Coruscant. A million people will die the moment it hits the ground."

"Easily done," Ten said, running over to the console and moving the TARDIS into position. He switched on the tractor beam, when suddenly one of the screens of the TARDIS showed Skywalker's concentrated face.

"Doctor," Anakin Skywalker said. "I'd appreciate it if you dropped your tractor beam. I can land this vessel."

"It's going to crash on the planet," Ten stated. "Millions of people will die."

"And I'm the only one who can land this ship," Anakin replied. "I know what I'm doing, Doctor."

"I can't let you do that."

"Why?" a voice asked from Anakin's lips, but seemed all-together different than Anakin Skywalker. "Don't want anyone else infringing on the glory of the Last Timelord?"

None of the Doctors responded, not until they saw Anakin's blue eyes shift back into focus and he responded.

"I've got the situation under control," he said. "If you want to help, find me a landing strip to put this thing down on and tell anyone on it to clear out. We're coming in fast, so you better hurry up."

The transmission cut out, but the Doctors were stunned. None of them moved and none of them spoke. For a moment, they wondered if what they had seen in that brief moment was what they had been seeking for the past thirteen years unsuccessfully. Perhaps, they all thought, they had seen a glimpse of something within Anakin Skywalker, something that only manifested itself in the most extreme situations.

The Master.

* * *

**(AN: Oh no, what happened?)**

**(Should I just spill the beans now, since we're so close to the end of this story, or keep it a secret? You [hopefully] have been quite patient with me, so I think you deserve to know how Anakin Skywalker can be both himself and the Master at the same time.)  
**

**(Tried to top myself in this chapter, hope it came out well. I also had a little bit of a funny throw-back to a classic Who episode [where Four went to Gallifrey and pretended to be power-mad]. Hope you enjoyed it)  
**


	24. An Informal Landing

**(AN: Yay! A good thing about _Doctor Who_ is that I can reference other science fiction works [like _Treasure Planet_], or recall the ancient adventures of the _Star Wars_ galaxy [like _Knights of the Old Republic_]. Also, I have a hypothesis for why Yoda and the Jedi Council let Anakin remain, though they know he impregnated Padme [but also, when did that happen? And another thing that bugs me, how far along is she in the movies? Anywhere from five to seven and then jumps ahead to almost eight or nine by the time she's on Mustafar. Seriously, George Lucas really rushed everything in that movie, from Padme's terms to the fall of the Republic.])  
**

**(_Allons-y_, now!)  
**

* * *

**An Informal Landing**

Somewhere near the Senate House of the Republic, a shuttle was carrying Obi-wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and the rescued Chancellor Palpatine back to safety. On the edges of this, however, a little blue box was materializing just outside of the crowds. The doors opened and out stepped Ten, River Song, Rose Tyler, Eight and Four one by one. Rose had her eyes trained on all of the massive buildings.

"Blimey!" she exclaimed. "It's beautiful!"

"Wish I could say it was this beautiful everywhere," Ten said. "But the war has rotted the Republic to the core."

"Talking of which," River spoke up. "I think I should stay behind with the TARDIS."

"No," Ten said. "You're coming with me."

"But I don't think I should be seen, especially by the Chancellor," River stated. "That would be awkward."

"Wait," Eight stated. "I see Skywalker speaking with the Senator from Naboo." He pointed to a secluded space, where the two were speaking.

"Yeah," Ten said. "She's going to tell him the truth. She's with child."

"She is?" Rose exclaimed. "And he's the Father? The...the Master?"

"No," Ten shook his head. "He's still Anakin Skywalker, but there's something else. Remember what we saw during the battle?"

"So, then is he not the Master?"

"No, he is, he really is," Ten assured her. "But he's Anakin Skywalker at the same time. Sort of like that novella by Robert Louis Stevenson. Good ol' RLS, you know they named a ship after him, a star-liner on Montressor. Quite a ship, really. Escaped a magnetic singularity, which is almost physically imposs..." He noticed that they were all looking at him oddly, reminding him that he was rambling. "Oh, alright, Jekyll and Hyde."

"That's why you kept him alive," Eight said. "For this very purpose."

"Exactly," Ten said. "Without those children, this galaxy is doomed."

"Couldn't you just do something about it, Doctor?" Rose asked.

"I've done too much as it is," Ten replied. "Right now, we need to start thinking of an exit strategy."

"Wait a minute," River spoke up. "What about the Jedi? They don't let their members have mates, or children. Why would they allow this? Surely they can sense the attachment he feels towards her."

"They do," Eight said. "But I overheard a secret conference between Master Windu and Master Yoda. It seems the old Jedi Master foresaw this coming. He told Master Windu not to interfere, says the future of the galaxy hangs in the balance, even if it violates the Jedi Code."

"Wise ol' Master Yoda," Ten said with a smile. "He knows the history of the Jedi Order. Revan and Bastilla Shan, Meetra Surik and Atton Rand: the whole Order's survived because some of them were willing to bend the rules in the darkest times. It was a good idea for him to leave Coruscant, leave all the corruption and shrouding of the Dark Side and go somewhere where he can be in tune with the living Force, see everything in perspective."

"Listen to you, sweetie," River said with a smile. "Waxing romantic on us like that."

"Yeah, Poe liked it," Ten said in semi-serious jest.

"Alexander or Edgar Allan?" Rose asked.

"Both," Ten said, winking at her cheekily and clicking his tongue. "Now, let's go somewhere and be somewhere."

"Uh, Doctor, aren't you forgetting something?" Rose asked.

"What?"

"Your promise!" he reminded him firmly. "You promised me that you'd take me back home the moment you got the TARDIS back! You know, I'm starting to think that you're not even the real Doctor. I mean, you're not as bad as Bow-Tie and everything, but, I mean, the Doctor would keep his promise!"

Ten got an uncomfortable look on his face, then looked back at Eight and Four, then turned back to Rose.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he said, shaking his head. "But you're gonna have to wait. I promise you I'll still take you back, but you have to be patient."

"I don't want to be patient anymore!" Rose shouted. "It's been hell, thinking you were dead, for three years! **_Three_** years! Now you want me to wait around some more, well, how long this time, Doctor?"

"Quite a mouth you got there," Rose retorted. "I can see why he let you go."

"River!" Ten shouted.

"What, let me go?" Rose asked, turning to River. "What do you mean, let me go? What happens to me in the future? You're his wife, you know, don't you?"

"I can't tell you," River said with her usual cheeky smile. "Spoilers."

"To hell with spoilers, tell me now!" Rose shouted.

Just then, they saw Anakin walk towards them. Ten immediately stepped in front of Rose and addressed him.

"Uh, hello," he said. "Sorry you had to hear that."

"Is everything alright, Doctor?" Anakin asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Ten dismissed with a shrug. "She's just homesick."

"Well, that's easily remedied," Anakin replied.

"Not as easy as you think," Ten stated.

"Skywalker, there you are!" Eight spoke up. "I've been meaning to talk to you. If you're going back to the Jedi Temple to report the success to the Council, I would like to accompany you."

"Oh, uh, as you wish."

"Fantastic!" Eight exclaimed, then followed on after Anakin as they left the scene. Once they were gone, Ten turned back to Four and River.

"So much for a quiet, informal landing," he said.

"I concur," Four added. He then walked over to Rose, placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and with the other hand, reached into his pocket. "Would you like a jelly baby?"

* * *

**(AN: Yay, Rose got to say what I've been longing to say to River ever since I saw "Let's Kill Hitler" for the second time. You're not Frigga, you don't have to keep everyone's story a secret...unless you're a sadist and you like knowing that everyone's gonna die but then keep it from them just to watch them/know that they will go through hell eventually.)**

**(Sorry if she's getting whiny, but sometimes, Rose can be a bit whiny [especially in "Parting of the Ways"]. Yes, I know you're probably going to ask me the same question: why not use the TARDIS? That will happen later, but only after Ten has put his life on the line and done something only he could have done. It's all part of my attempt at making this, while still a 'prequel' to _The Doctor's Star Wars_, just as enjoyable and novel as the last one was.)**


	25. Vader

**(AN: My stories are awfully derivative of each other, and what Rose was referring to [the three years she had mentioned] was about what happened in _The Doctor's Star Wars_, where she was stuck with the Rebellion for three years [well, four years if you count _Return of the Jedi_], and she jumped through the period of the prequels since she was in the TARDIS with River.)**

**(Oh well, this should help make things simpler. It will, in a way, try to reconcile what we know about Anakin/the Master in the canon of this story with early draft _Star Wars_ material...re-imagined)**

* * *

**Vader**

After they dispersed, the Doctor was able to pull some strings with Senator Amidala and get Rose a room in her sky-rise suite. He decided that the TARDIS needed to be kept in a secret place, so he had Four take it to the first Doctor's secret apartment. River Song and Eight remained in the Jedi Temple along with Ten.

"And what will we be doing?" River asked.

"Don't you sleep?" Ten asked.

"You don't, so I can't," River replied with cheek.

"I'll stay up and meditate," Ten said.

"So shall I," Eight stated.

So it was that the Timelords stayed up all night meditating in one of the chambers of the Jedi Temple. River paced at their side as a kind of silent vigil, fingering at times the things she kept in her pockets which, like the Doctor's, were bigger on the inside. There was her vortex manipulator, which she had stolen back from Rose, that was essential. There was the Doctor's second lightsaber, which he hadn't used since the Battle of Geonosis. Her own lightsaber sat on her belt, as did her sonic blaster. She had no time for meditation, for it reminded her of the horrors of her brain-washing which had been the main-stay of her childhood and young adult life.

At about three o'clock, sleep did close her eyes and she leaned against the wall of the empty room and slid down to sleep. Mere moments later, Ten opened his eyes and removed himself from his place of meditation. He removed his trench coat and covered River in it.

"You don't trust her, yet you treat her kindly," Eight stated.

"I don't believe in second chances," Ten replied. "But sometimes, I'm capable of showing mercy, even to my enemies...or those who aren't trust-worthy."

Just then, the sound of the Doctor's communicator sounded. Ten ran to River's side and pulled the comm-device out of the pocket of the trench-coat and walked aside, whispering into it.

"Specs here," he said.

"Doctor?" Anakin's voice asked. "I know it's late, but I need to speak to someone."

"What about Obi-wan, or Yoda? Or your wife?" Silence followed. "Yes, yes, I know she's your wife."

"Don't tell a soul," Anakin firmly stated. "The Jedi will expel me from the Order if they found this out."

"Your secret's safe with me," Ten replied. "Now, what's wrong?"

"Something's happened," Anakin began. "I need to speak to someone. Obi-wan's likely to divine the truth, as is Master Yoda: besides, he's on Kashyyyk, and it's current orbital status has made it quite unreachable by holo-transmissions."

"Well, you know what's the good thing about me?" Ten began. "I'm not a Jedi, so you don't have to hide anything from me."

"Can we meet at Padme...Senator Amidala's suite?" Anakin asked. "I want to get this over with early, so I don't miss the briefing on the Outer Rim sieges."

"I'll be right there," Ten said.

* * *

It was about four o'clock in the morning when the Tenth Doctor arrived at Padme's apartment. Captain Typho gave him no trouble as far as security, for the Doctor was well-known and had full clearance among the Senator. Rose was still asleep, and he didn't want to wake her too early. He went to the living room of Padme's apartment. It was more or less dark, with only R2-D2 and C-3PO about. The golden protocol droid offered them drinks, but the Doctor dismissed.

"Now, then," he said, sitting down on the sofa opposite Anakin. "What help can I be?"

"I don't know how to say this," Anakin began. "Well, I guess I should just start!" He chuckled uneasily, then became suddenly grim. "I've always been able to see things before they happened. Before I was a Jedi, my mother said it was just cleverness. But Obi-wan told me that it was nascent attunement to the Force. I saw my mother in pain at the hands of the Sand People before she died..." He sighed.

"And I have seen it again," he stated. "Only this time, it was about Padme. Pain...suffering...so much! She...she dies in childbirth."

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Ten replied, equally grim.

"Is that all you have to say?" Anakin asked. "No advice?"

"Well, if I were Yoda, I'd probably say something esoteric like 'death is a natural part of life' and that one should rejoice for those who become one with the Force." Ten began. "But I'm not Yoda. I've suffered loss before. I've had companions leave me, I've lost them, some of them I've held in my arms as they've died. I'm no stranger to loss."

"But I won't let this happen, I...I can't! He tells me there's still hope to save her."

Ten's eyebrows arched suspiciously as he turned to Anakin. "Who says this?"

Anakin reached into his robes and produced, to the Doctor's horror, a silver fob watch. It was open.

"Ever since I was young," Anakin began. "I've had this with me, but I've never been able to open it. I finally was able to force it open, but only by calling heavily upon the Force and with my right hand." He flexed his mechanical prosthetic, the trophy of his first encounter with Count Dooku. "When I did, something happened. I...there's this voice I hear. I know this sounds familiar, as Jedi can speak to the minds of others, even non-Jedi. But this voice doesn't seem to come from anywhere. I've tried to use the Force to determine where the voice is coming from, but the answer is still the same..." He pointed to his head with the fore-finger of his mechanical hand.

"What does the voice say?" Ten asked. "What does it call itself?"

"The voice has often guided me throughout the war," Anakin said. "It's suggestions have often saved my life during hard conditions: Jabiim, Christophsis, Ryloth, Cato Nemoidia. Sometimes, the voice can be overwhelming, it says so many things, shows visions in my mind of places I've never seen, names and worlds I've never seen or heard of before: steel war-machines like astromech droids, silver-clad droids with soulless voices, a world with glass buildings and burnt orange skies, blue boxes and immortality...the drums! Sometimes I hear drumming in my head, like this..." With his flesh hand, Anakin drummed on the table.

_Dun Dun Dun Dun_.

"What does the voice call itself?" Ten asked again.

"It never gives itself a name," Anakin replied. "But I've insisted, and it gave me a name with which to call it, to call _our_selves_._"

"What is it?"

"Vader."

If Ten's eyes could have grown any larger than they already were, they would have at this revelation. Both of his hearts were beating against his ribcage faster than he could count. Brown eyes met blue as the Doctor wondered if he could see his ancient nemesis in the eyes of Anakin Skywalker. He hadn't seen them in the black visor of Darth Vader on the Death Star, and for thirteen years, he felt as though he had been chasing shadows. Was this for real, had he found who he was seeking?

"Does anyone else know?" he asked.

"No," Anakin shook his head. "I mean, Obi-wan knows about Vader. After Xagobah, he heard me speak of Vader. I had to tell him as far as I could say, but not about Padme. She knows, but she doesn't believe me: she says the..."

"What?"

"She said the man she loves is still here," Anakin replied, his teeth gritted. "She is a fool!"

"_Koschei!_" Ten breathed.

"No!" Anakin sighed. "I-I'm sorry. I don't know if I can control him anymore. He's never really done this to me, he's usually just spoken into my mind. Now he's...winning out over this stupid little monkey!"

"Anakin, hang in there!" Ten said to the Jedi. "I know you're there, Padme knows you're there. You can do this, you can beat him. You're the strongest Jedi in a millennium. If anyone can do this, you can!"

"I...I don't know," Anakin said, burying his face in his mechanical hand. "I couldn't save my mother."

"But you _can_ do this!" Ten insisted. "You can beat him, you _must!_"

* * *

**(AN: Can he do it? Can he do it?)**

**(On that dramatic note, I give you this new chapter and leave you with that ending until such time as I can write more. Oh, and by the way, I saw the first four episodes of _Doctor Who_, being the adventures of the 1st Doctor [gotta love William Hartnell]. Loved it. Yes, it came from the same technological era as _Star Trek_ TOS, but I honestly liked it. Go back and see it, all you readers.)**

**(We're getting close to the end, but we still have some more chapters left to go. Obviously something big is going to happen [it always does in _Doctor Who_], but, since Yoda is too epic to appear in the prequels, I'm wondering if the Doctor[s] should, at any time, fight the Dark Lord of the Sith. I want to show that he might possibly be able to be a match for the Doctor. What do you think?)**


	26. Knightfall

**(AN: Actually, Anakin _does_ resist the Master, but it takes a long time for that to happen, say...twenty-four years [-hint hint-]. But that, while in the future, has already happened in _The Doctor's Star Wars_. Isn't that the fun thing about time travel, where we can talk about future events in the past tense and past events in a future tense?)**

* * *

**Knightfall**

Months passed since the Doctor and his counterparts and companions arrived on Coruscant, and they had kept an eye on things. While Ten kept Anakin more or less in his sight, Eight remained at the Jedi Temple and relayed information to them. Ten usually inquired about Obi-wan, who had left Coruscant for the Outer Rim. Apparently, in the power vacuum that existed, Darth Maul had taken command of the Separatists forces and had called for a meeting on Utapau. Obi-wan volunteered and, despite a long-standing hatred between the Jedi Master and the Sith assassin, the Council believed that Obi-wan would not be governed by his emotions and fulfill his task. It would go a long way to ending the war, they knew, for without a strong leader, the factions of the Separatists had not the guts to keep up a war with a fully unified Republic.

If Republic was what it still could be called. New amendments to the Constitution were being made, either secret or publicly, on a daily basis. Near the end of three months after the Siege of Coruscant, a new proviso placed governors in charge of the regions still loyal to the Republic. While they were toted to be there only to ensure loyalty for the people, there were some within the Senate who knew otherwise. They answered only to the Chancellor and, for all intents and purposes, could curtail the powers of the Senate. Some of the more cynical realized that the Senate no longer existed in power, only in name.

One afternoon, after a meeting with the Committee of Two Thousand, a rather large group of senators including Amidala, Bail Organa and Mon Mothma who had ought against the changes being made to the Constitution and the centralization of the Chancellor's power, Ten walked throughout Padme's apartment complex in search of Rose. He had not often been to visit her since their arrival, and though Captain Typho told her that she was safe and well, Ten knew that humans enjoyed companionship. So it was that he made his way to the living room in Padme's suite. Here he and Obi-wan had talked the night of the failed assassination attempt three years ago. As he sat down on one of the sofas, he heard footsteps and turned to see Rose walking into the room, dressed in a drab blue jacket with long sleeves and gray pants.

"Hello, Rose," Ten said.

"Hello, Doctor," she replied.

"Been shopping, have you?" he asked.

"Yeah," she returned. "Well, I mean, I can't wear my old clothes here. My God, haven't they invented denim? Still, this is the best I could do."

"What about raiding the Senator's wardrobe?"

"Are you taking the mickey out o' me?" Rose asked with a snorted giggle. "She's tiny! I couldn't fit into one of her dresses, even if I squeezed. Of course, her maternity dresses are too big for me. Have you seen her, how big she's gotten?"

"Yeah," Ten nodded. "It's almost time."

"It was so strange," Rose said, sitting down across from the Doctor.

"What was strange?"

"Touching her belly," Rose began. "I asked to, you know, out of curiosity or whatever. I don't know. And then I realized that the life inside her was the same one that I met back on Tatooine. 'Cuz there's two of them, right?"

"Yeah, twins." Ten said in an absent-minded tone. "Jedi twins."

"It was so strange," Rose continued. "They were about my age, or close to it at least, when I last saw them on _Home One_. And then, just a few moments later, they're so small, I bet I could fit one in each hand!" She laughed.

"That's what time travel does," Ten explained. "Puts everything in perspective. A moment can be twenty-four years, or seven years can be a moment."

"It's mind-boggling!" Rose exclaimed.

"Not for a Timelord," Ten replied. He then looked at her clothes. "So, what exactly is this?"

"It's the best I could find," Rose began. "You should see the shopping centers here! Almost everything is in the same drab design."

"You know why?"

"The war," Rose replied. "That's what the sales...uh...Rodian told me."

"They're right," Ten began. "The excuses given were that many of the designers came from worlds who were sympathizers for the Separatists. But it's more than that, Rose. It's the anthropocentrism of the Republic. It's dying, Rose Tyler, the Republic is dying. Equality is one of the first things to go out the window, all in the name of security and the greater good of the Republic, but the Republic exists in name only now."

Suddenly, Ten halted. The sun was going down and all the skyscrapers of Coruscant glowed with a golden-orange glow. Ten was now looking out the window, at something in the distance.

"What's wrong, Doctor?" Rose asked, walking over to his side.

"It's started," he said grimly. "The last sunset of the Republic. Tonight is when it all ends."

"How do you know?"

"I'm a Timelord, I can feel the Force," he replied. "The shadow of the dark side has fallen across Coruscant." He sighed. "Anakin failed. He failed to stop the Master from controlling him." He turned to Rose, a serious look in his big brown eyes. When she saw that look, she knew that he was the Doctor indeed. She had seen 'her' Doctor give her that look before, and while he had a new face, it was the same look.

"We have to get out of here, now. Before the sun goes down."

"Yeah, alright. I'll get my things together."

Rose ran off to her room and gathered her few supplies, mostly just clothes and such. Ten, meanwhile, was activating his holo-projector. The image of the Eighth Doctor appeared.

"There you are!" Eight commented. "I've been wondering when you'd contact me. Master Windu has left for the Chancellor's Office alone. Is it time?"

"Yes," Ten nodded. "It's time."

"Should I leave the Temple?"

"Negative," Ten continued.

"But you know what's about to happen in just a few hours!"

"Yes, I know, and I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry. Stay alive, that's what you need to know. Whatever happens, _stay_ alive!"

"But, Docto..."

Ten ended the transmission, then stowed his holo-projector back into the pockets of his trench coat. Rose appeared moments later, with her things stowed in a back-pack.

"Are we going back?" she asked. "Like, for real, back to our own time?"

"Yes!" Ten exclaimed. "Sorry it took so long, but yes, we're going back and you, Rose Tyler, you will be rewarded for your patience."

"Well, it's about time!" she replied.

"We need the others, though," Ten said. "But it's not going to be pretty. He knows we're here, the Chancellor. He'll want to capture or kill us and find out our secrets. Fortunately, I've kept the location and identity of the TARDIS secret from him."

"The Chancellor?" Rose asked.

"His name is Palpatine," Ten stated. "In the darker regions of the Outer Rim, he's known as Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith. You thought Vader was bad, he's worse. Even Timelords refused to dabble in his time-stream, he actually killed one who tried. Burned him to death with Force lightning, killed all of his regenerations pretty much simultaneously. Thankfully, he never found out about the Timelords from him: if he did, it would be disastrous. One thing he wants is immortality, and he did that on Byss, with all those clones. It's as far as he can get with his powers, but if he knew about Gallifrey and the Timelords, he could become a Sith god, immortal and omnipotent. I can't let that happen."

"So then stop him," Rose replied.

"Haven't you been listening? I can't do that!" Ten interjected, genuine fear in his voice. "He's too powerful. I could feel him trying to read my thoughts when we're in the same room, even if he's not talking or looking at me. He's got powers even I've never heard about. But he's using Anakin for his own end, going to make him his new apprentice. If he happens to detect the Master's consciousness, he could learn about Gallifrey and the Timelords and who knows what will happen."

"But you said they were destroyed, all wiped out," Rose replied.

"Yes, I did," Ten stated. "And I also know the Master, and he could create a paradox machine that would allow him to go back on his own time-stream, even alter fixed points."

"So what do we do?"

"We're getting off Coruscant," Ten said. "Before all hell breaks lose."

* * *

**(AN: Seriously, that again? It's like saying "use the Eagles" in _Lord of the Rings_. Hell, Tolkien even said that all powers failed at Orodruin [aka. Mount Doom]. But that's off-topic, he can't do that, as we shall soon see.)**


	27. Distress

**(AN: Originally, this was going to be called "The Doctor's Plan", but I already have a chapter called that in this fic and in_ The Doctor's Star Wars_, so I think I've had enough chapters with that name. Changed it, because it sort of has two meanings.)**

* * *

**Distress**

Rose and Ten were on their way to the bottom of the apartment complex, hoping to find a speeder that they could rent or purchase, or commandeer, that would take them to their secret hiding place in Coruscant. From there, they would take the TARDIS and depart, according to the Doctor's plan. They entered an elevator that was taking them down to the floor level, when suddenly it lurched and came to a halt.

"What's happened?" Rose asked.

"No, no, no!" Ten exclaimed. "This can't be good!" He removed his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the door. A blue light and a tone later, the doors opened, showing that they were stuck half-way through the elevator shaft in between floors. At the top of the elevator doors was the bottom of the door of the upper floor, which Ten opened with his sonic screwdriver. It opened, but they could just barely reach it.

"Here," Ten said. "I'll help you up."

"Can you do it?" she asked. "I mean, you're so thin..."

"Oh, don't worry about me," Ten dismissed. "Hurry along, now."

Rose climbed up on Ten's hands and crawled up into the opened half of the door. Once she was up, Ten stepped back and jumped up to take hold of the floor. He pulled himself up and, with Rose's help, was able to crawl through the hole and onto the floor. As he rose to his feet and began wiping off his trench coat, he saw that they were surrounded. Clones in Type-II battle armor had their blaster-rifles aimed at them.

"What's this?" Rose asked. "I thought they were good guys."

"Doctor," one of the clones spoke. "Hands up, you're under arrest."

"Yeah, I don't do that," Ten shook his head. "But, if I may ask, why am I under arrest?"

"You've been linked to an assassination attempt on the Chancellor," the clone replied. "Come quietly, sir, we don't want to hurt you."

"Oh, really?" Ten asked. "That's good! Because I don't want to hurt you either." He held up his sonic screwdriver and pressed it. All at once, the clones tapped their helmets and their blaster-rifles clicked nonoperative. Ten put his hands behind his back, looked up at the ceiling, and began whistling as he sauntered away from the attempted trap. Suddenly, two of them were burned through their armored breast-plates by a sonic blaster. Ten and Rose turned about, and saw River Song, sonic blaster in her hand, shooting the clones down one by one.

"Hello, sweetie," River smiled.

"They weren't hurting anyone!" Ten retorted with gritted teeth. "They're humans, no different than the ones on Earth."

"They're clones," River replied. "They have no life."

"Who are you to say what has life and what doesn't?"

"And who are you, Doctor, to say otherwise?"

"Oi!" Rose spoke up. "They almost tried to kill us and you two are having it out?"

"She's right," Ten said. "There are more important things than this happening right now."

"Yes," River replied. "That's why I came to find you. Look at this." She handed Ten a data-pad. "I got this from Had Abbadon."

"'Order Sixty-Six...'" Ten mused aloud, his face turning ashen white and his large eyes swelling even larger.

"Most of it was encrypted," River began. "It happened when I..." Ten took out his sonic screwdriver and waved it over the data-pad. He then looked back at it and read the horrific details.

"'Order Sixty-Six. Military Class Action. Status: Classified. Description: treason has been committed against the Chancellor. Jedi now considered hostile. Shoot on sight, leave no survivors. Priority level: One.'"

"Wait," Rose spoke up. "The other you, isn't he back at the Jedi Temple?"

"Yes, he is." River stated. She then turned to Ten. "A transmission from this room was sent to his holo-receiver in the Temple. It was your frequency. You spoke to him. Why didn't you tell him to run? You know what's going to happen this night, or haven't you seen? The sun is down already, he's out of time. You're sending him to his death!"

Ten said nothing, his face grimly set upon the window.

"Doctor?" Rose asked. "Doctor, is she right? Is your other you still in the Jedi Temple? What's going to happen at the Jedi Temple?"

"Newly christened Darth Vader is going to lead the 501st Legion into the Jedi Temple," River replied. "Every Jedi within is going to be slaughtered, no survivors...not even the young Jedi." She turned to Ten. "You could do something, you could save them..."

"No, I can't!" Ten replied. "It's a fixed point."

"But you're putting your life in danger as well!" River shouted. "They know about you, Doctor. They might be able to know how to kill you, and if they kill your past incarnation, you'll cease to exist!"

Ten did not reply, his eyes still set beyond. At length, he removed his lightsaber from his trench coat pocket and made for the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Rose asked.

"We're leaving," he said.

"But what about..."

Ten said nothing, but walked on resolutely, eyes set forward and lightsaber deactivated in his right hand and his sonic screwdriver in his left hand. Then, suddenly, he gave out a cry that startled them all.

"No!" he exclaimed.

"What? What is it?" River asked.

"He's found us out!" Ten exclaimed. "We need to get there, and fast!"

"Where?" Rose asked.

"Back to the TARDIS!" Ten exclaimed. "It's the Master, he's delaying the attack on the Jedi Temple. He's doing something else, but..."

"But what?" Rose asked.

"If he takes the TARDIS," Ten continued. "Not only will we be trapped, but he might do unspeakable damage to the time-stream!"

"The paradox machine," River replied.

* * *

Down they ran, not using the elevator for fear of being tracked by another squad of clones. With River and Rose on his tail, Ten finally made it out of the apartment complex. He came to the lobby, but found no speeders available.

"We're trapped!" Rose stated.

"Maybe I can flag down a speeder from up there," Ten said, casting his eyes up to the air traffic above their heads.

"Are you insane?" River queried. "It's almost a mile up there!"

"She's right," Rose added. "I mean, it's not like back on Earth where you can just whistle and call a cab, you know."

"That's why I've got this," Ten said, removing his sonic screwdriver and holding it aloft. There was a tone, and then he put it back in his pocket. Just then, a four-seat air-speeder descended from the traffic above and came to rest just before them. It's pilot was a middle-aged woman, and when he saw her, the Doctor smiled.

"Nona Cru!" he exclaimed. "Good ol' Nona, haven't forgotten you."

"Excuse me, boy, but who are you?" the pilot asked. "I only came down because I caught your distress beacon. And how do you know me?"

"I'm the Doctor, I know everybody," Ten smiled. He then turned to the others and waved them on. "My friends and I have to get off planet, we've got a ship, I'll give you the coordinates." He turned back to River and Rose. "Well, come on, then!"

River and Rose climbed in the back seats, while Ten jumped in the 'shot-gun' seat, opposite Nona and in front of Rose. With a whine of the repulsorlift engines, the speeder took off and Ten shouted, over the engine roar and the rush of traffic, the directions. Behind him, Rose leaned him.

"Doctor?" she asked. "I know that woman. I saw her on _Home One_. She was an old woman, but still flying. Still...fighting."

"Yeah," Ten replied. "She goes on to join the Rebellion." He turned to Nona. "Just up that way, carefully now! Don't want to attract too much attention."

"Getting off planet while you still can, are you?" Nona began. "Oh, don't look at me like that! I'm not crazy, even if everyone says so. 'Conspiracy theories', they called it. 'Just keep your trap shut, Nona, you're sounding like a Separatist', and all that load of bantha feed that they've been dishing out on the Holo-Net about patriotism and doing your duty to the Republic. Something's happened, and I'm not the only one. Even the Senate knows it! A friend of mine is an aide to the senator from Chandrila, she overheard something about a Delegation of Two Thousand and the things the Chancellor's been doing. Smart ones are getting out of here before the fire-fight happens."

"Right!" Ten exclaimed. "No, no! _Turn_ right!"

"Oh, well, why didn't you say so?"

"I did say so!"

"Nice to know there are such well-informed people on Coruscant," River said to Nona.

"Just sit tight back there," Nona called back, as she turned the speeder down and through a narrow gap between two large skyscrapers!"

"Blimey!" Rose exclaimed. "What was that for?"

"Shake off pursuit," Nona called back. "Two security drones have been following us." She reached under her seat and pulled out a blaster. "If they get any closer, I'll take care of 'em!"

"I hate guns," Ten grumbled.

"So did the Chancellor," laughed Nona as she stored hers back beneath the seat. "You remember three years ago, before this all went to hell, the assassination attempts on the senator from Naboo? Well, they've pretty much banned weapons throughout Coruscant. Then with the war and all the civil rights being stripped away, all under the cover of the security and greater good of the Republic, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going to ha...watch out!"

The speeder rolled to the side, just barely missing another one coming the opposite direction at maximum speed.

"Some crazy low-leveler all hopped up on death-sticks, like as not," Nona replied, indicating to the one who had passed them by so suddenly.

But Ten was busy looking back. When that second speeder passed them by, he felt something. He could feel it, a disturbance in the Force, and he feared the worst.

"Step on it, Nona!" he shouted.

"Faster?" she laughed. "I thought you'd never ask!"

* * *

Less than five minutes later,, Nona's speeder came to a halt near a patch of structures that were more or less plain and out of the way: no huge skyscrapers for miles, just flat, surface-like buildings that honey-combed the surrounding area. The sun was far gone now and the lights of Coruscant illuminated everything for miles around.

"There you are!" Nona said as she brought the speeder down to rest. Rose was the first out, followed by River and lastly Ten, who looked back at Nona with a smile.

"Keep on flyin', old girl," he said proudly, giving her a salute. "May the Force be with you."

"Who are you callin' old, boy?" she laughed in return, then kicked the starter into gear and took off faster than a screaming gundark.

Ten turned back to the squat apartment complexes, on which they had landed, and saw three figures walking up one of the service stairs to meet them. First there appeared the Fourth Doctor, green lightsaber lit and in hand. Behind him came Romana, with her magenta blade active and ready as well. In the rear, cane in hand, was the very first incarnation of the Doctor.

"You alright?" Ten asked.

"Hardly, my boy," the Doctor replied to his older, yet younger-looking, counterpart.

"What happened?" River asked.

"Skywalker," Romana replied. "He was here a few minutes ago."

"What happened, what did he take?" Ten asked in one breath. "Did he take the TARDIS?"

"No, worse," Four answered, his huge eyes bulging in horrific realization. "The paradox machine."

Ten groaned in frustration as he shut off his lightsaber.

"We can't go just yet," he said, turning to the others.

"Why not?" Rose asked.

"Without the paradox machine, child," the first Doctor interjected. "Everything that we have done for the past thirteen years will start to have a permanent effect on the time-line. The results could be disastrous!"

"So much has been changed," Four added. "It could create a rift in reality."

"But we haven't just been confined to Coruscant," Ten concluded. "It would spread across half this galaxy. It would devour it and then keep growing. It could grow so large, it would be impossible to contain it. Time and space would be torn apart at the seams."

"So we have to get it back?" Rose asked.

"Yes," Ten said. "And fast!"

Just then, the holo-reader in Ten's jacket pocket activated. He opened it up and there was revealed the crouching form of the Eighth Doctor.

"Are you reading this?" he asked. "Look, it's happened! ...Five-Hundred and First Legion attacked the Temple, Skywalker's at their le...helped Shaaki Ti and a few others escape...it's...wait!"

Blaster-fire filled the screen, and to their horror, they saw Eight collapse, blasted apart by clone soldiers who then appeared on the holo-reader.

Ten said nothing at first. At length, he threw the reader away, then turned to the others. "The TARDIS, is it safe?"

"Yes, it's quite alright, my boy," the first Doctor said. "Why do you think they have their lightsabers drawn? They tried to fight him off, thinking he would steal it. Strangely enough, he didn't."

"And you?" River asked. "Where's your lightsaber?"

The first Doctor laughed. "My dear, do you honestly think, at my age, I would be jumping about like an acrobat, swinging one of those energy weapons?! I've taken a leaf from Master Yoda's book, and if there is any use of the Force to be done by yours truly, it will be done without such weapons."

"Come on, then!" Ten exclaimed. "To the TARDIS!"

"And then?" River asked.

"The Jedi Temple."

* * *

**(AN: Well, since I'm sick [regrettably so] I'm gonna do a lot of updating. Here's a new chapter for this story, featuring someone new and yet someone old. Nona Cru is my name for one of the three or four female pilots removed from_ Return of the Jed__i_ [she's the oldest A-Wing pilot]. Since I didn't go through with _Star Wars: Rebellion_, which would have shown some of the back-story for the pilots who fought in the space Battle of Endor, and I didn't have the space battle at all in _The Doctor's Star Wars_, I gave Nona a brief cameo in the _Rev__enge of the Master_. If I had to guess from the picture, she looks like she's in her sixties by _Jedi_, which means she was in her forties or late thirties by _Revenge of the Sith_. A little bit of fan-service for you)**

**(For the Whovians out there, I saw the first four episodes of classic _Doctor Who_. For something created during the...wait, I think I've said this before. Well, even so, it was good, even for it's time, and I loved William Hartnell's Doctor.)**


	28. The Doctor and the Master

**(AN: We finally made it to the big final encounter! Yay...but I'll keep on writing, even if there are no more reviews.)**

**(Oh, and can anyone _PLEASE_ tell me which _Doctor Who_ episode had the Third Doctor in a sword-fight with the Master? I want to make a reference to that, but I don't know the name of the episode or what conditions the fight was under. Oh well)**

* * *

**The Doctor and the Master**

Though the TARDIS' chameleon circuits were stuck on blue police box of mid-20th century United Kingdom, the Doctor, in any of his incarnations, knew how to pilot it low enough to avoid detection - at least when the TARDIS was being helpful. So it was on Coruscant, as the Tenth, Fourth and First incarnations of the Doctor piloted the TARDIS together, all gathered around its main console unit: as a TARDIS should be piloted. It was now soaring between the low-lying buildings of Coruscant, towards an image on the view-screen inside the ship.

The Jedi Temple in flames.

While the Doctors knew that there would still be a garrison of clones at the Temple - they had placed a 'false' homing beacon in the Jedi Temple, telling all Jedi to return to the Temple - there was one thing the clones didn't know. As the Doctor hadn't got the TARDIS with him during the war, they knew nothing about it and he wisely kept knowledge of it a secret, even from the Jedi and the Chancellor. Now he had an ace up his 'dimensionally transcendent' sleeves that they would not be counting on: the TARDIS could shift through solid material. The Doctor piloted the ship through the walls of the Jedi Temple, though it shook violently all along the way. He was tracking a signal coming from inside the Temple, one that only a Timelord could be making.

A double-heartbeat.

"That's rather remote, sweetie," River replied, in her usual tone of superiority. This annoyed the Doctor: _he_ was the one who was superior to everyone and everything, and didn't like some upstart human woman acting like she had one over him. "There are some species who have multiple hearts, you could be tracking a Jedi survivor."

"I know what I'm doing!" Ten shouted back.

"Why, because you're the Doctor?"

"That's always worked in the past," he replied with a cock of his eyebrow.

"Well, not with me," River stated.

"Why? What makes you better than everyone else?" Ten asked, eying her with his eyebrows all crooked.

"Spoilers, sweetie," she stated, winking at him with her smug, superior grin.

"We've landed!" Four spoke up.

Ten threw a lever, then ran to the doors. He pushed them open and came upon the ruin of the Jedi Temple. Jedi bodies lay strewn about the broken halls, with flash-burns on their robes where they had been hit by blasters. It was a real horror, that the most powerful warriors in the galaxy could be bested by clones with blasters. Ten pulled his sonic screwdriver out and began pointing it around, with Four, River and Rose bringing up the rear.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked, noting the Doctor's sullen expression. "It's not like you haven't seen dead people before."

"Yeah," Ten said grimly. "I have seen dead before. But I never would have believed I'd live to see the day when Rose Tyler never cared about people dying."

"I've seen so many people die since I joined the Rebellion," she commented mirthlessly. "I guess I just kinda...got used to it."

"That's what I never wanted," he stated. "You've become a remorseless weapon, like me."

"Well, excuse me, Doctor," she interjected. "But you're the one who got yourself killed, remember? And what about your promise: 'First chance we get, I'm taking you back, Rose,' remember?"

"This way!" Ten shouted, and ran off down a hallway, the others swiftly in tow.

But Ten came to a screeching halt as he almost tripped on the body of a clone trooper. Looking down, he saw many lay dead in this tunnel, which was thick with smoke. He drew out his lightsaber, but did not activate it. Someone had managed to slay these clones, but who and why? It would not be long, however, before the Doctor got his answer. The sound of boot just beyond were heard, and then a lightsaber being activated.

"Oi! Who's there?" a familiar Northern accent spoke.

"Hey, I know that!" Rose commented.

"Oh, yes!" Ten smiled. He then turned into the smoke. "Hey, Doctor! We're all friends here, you can come out now."

The sound of a lightsaber being activated was heard, then a figure slowly walked out of the smoke, dressed in the robes of the Jedi and wielding a blue lightsaber. The face was the face that, but thirteen years ago, had been the face of the Doctor who now stood with an amazed expression on his wide-eyed face. Thin, bald head, with a fierce nose and wide ears poking away from the side of the head.

"Hello, handsome!" Ten said to his previous incarnation with a smile. "Glad to see you survived."

"Yeah, no thanks to you," the Ninth incarnation of the Doctor replied sarcastically. "What were you thinking, leaving me to fend myself against the 501st? You do know, if they had shot me during the regeneration, you wouldn't exist. Hell, none of us would exist!"

"Yeah, well, all part of the plan!" Ten replied. "Still, glad to see you again."

"So this is it, then?" Nine said, looking at his next incarnation. "This is what I have to look forward to? Hmm, well, I like the hair, good cover for the ears."

"Excuse me," River interrupted. "If you will stop gawking over yourself, remember that we're still in danger!"

"Oh yes, of course," Ten said. He then turned back to Nine. "Come on, then. Back to the TARDIS."

"You've still got the TARDIS?"

"Of course I do."

"Good, because I need to change," Nine said. "Robes? Seriously!"

* * *

Mere moments later, they were all in the TARDIS again, the Tenth Doctor at the helm and the Ninth Doctor making his way out of the wardrobe. He was now clad in his familiar black leather jacket and, Ten noticed, Rose couldn't keep her eyes off him.

"Well, Doctor," River whispered to Ten in a patronizing tone. "Your 'plan' certainly seems to be working."

"It's not open to debate or discussion," he repeated.

She spoke, but he wasn't paying attention. On the view-screen of the TARDIS' console, he saw the reddish-black sphere that was the volcanic world of Mustafar. According to what he knew, Darth Vader came here after the destruction of the Jedi Temple to assassinate the remaining leaders of the Separatist Union. Since they left Coruscant, the Doctor had been trying to track him, hoping that Vader would do as ordained. If not, without a paradox machine, the results might be disastrous.

As he gazed ominously at the viewer, the Fourth Doctor walked over to his side.

"Is he out there?" he asked.

"Yeah," Ten replied. "He's there alright."

"I should go with you," Four stated. "This isn't just Anakin Skywalker, it's the Master as well."

"I know."

"So?"

"I'll go," Ten said. "It's better he doesn't know what happened to you."

"But he saw us on Coruscant, when he stole the..."

"I know!" Ten replied.

"You'll need help," Four said. "And who better to help you than you?"

"I have to do this alone," Ten replied. He turned away from the TARDIS console and started walking to the door. He halted as Nine walked up to his side.

"If I don't make it back," he said, turning to his ninth incarnation. "There's something you need to know." He placed his hands on the temples of his previous incarnation. It was only for a moment, but when they parted, the Ninth Doctor had a grim, hopeless expression on his face.

"That's insane!" he said. "How could you...I mean, I..._do_ that? And more importantly, how could I live with myself?"

"Them," Ten said, nodding towards Rose and River, the only humans on the TARDIS. "They've always been worth anything we've ever done, and it's because of them, and a billion other races, that we did what we did during the Time War. If I don't make it back, you have to take Rose back to her own time. I've given you all of my memories, including where we were last before we came to this time. You'll have to carry on, do you hear me?"

"That's a huge responsibility," Nine replied.

"No bigger than the weight of the universe," Ten said, smiling grimly. "And that's always been our charge. It's in good hands, I _know_ it is. You'll do fantastically."

"Fantastic?" Nine queried inquisitively, letting the word hang on his tongue, then smiled.

Ten then turned about and walked off towards the door. Behind him, however, walked one who would not let the Doctor go alone against a foe who had defeated him once before. But the Doctor was not paying attention, for his eyes were aimed at the door, which had now opened up.

Beyond was the hellish world of Mustafar, not unlike any of the other hundred thousand volcanic worlds the Doctor had seen in his many incarnations. The TARDIS had come to rest on a landing platform at a mining base on Mustafar, and there, opposite a Delta-7 interceptor, was Anakin Skywalker, still wearing his dark brown cloak, hood thrown back. He turned to face the Doctor, an uncharacteristic grin on his face. The Doctor recognized the grin, though the face was different: there was no doubt in his mind now, Anakin Skywalker and the Master were one and the same.

"Come to kill me, Doctor?" Anakin laughed.

"No!" Ten replied, stepping outside of the TARDIS. "I meant every word I said to you at our last meeting. Anakin, I know you're in there, I know you can hear me: I don't know what Palpatine and the Master have said, but it's wrong. You _are_ there, and you _can_ fight him. Do it now, I know you can!"

"Who are you talking to, Doctor?" Anakin smiled. "You know, talking to yourself is a sign of madness. But you know all about madness, don't you, Doctor?"

"Our fight is between us!" the Doctor replied. "You don't have to steal the paradox machine and endanger everyone in this galaxy!"

"A few trillion lives, nothing to me," Anakin retorted. "Besides, stealing the paradox machine was the only way I could get you to come after me."

"How did you know?"

"Do you think you're the only one who can read minds, Doctor? Force or no Force, I'm more powerful than you've ever been."

"Could we get to the part where you try to kill me, please?" Ten asked. "'Cuz this whole monologue thing is so Fu Manchu mustache, old cartoon serial you. Hardly goes well with the body you're in."

Anakin said nothing, but removed a lightsaber from his belt. The Doctor also removed his own lightsaber from out of the pockets of his suit.

"Do you remember when we dueled, Doctor?" Anakin asked. "So many years ago, back on your precious Earth?"

"Yeah." Ten said.

"Unfortunately, for you," Anakin smiled. "I'm much better now."

Anakin leaped forward, calling upon the Force to propel him at the Doctor faster than the time it took for the Doctor's left heart to beat in response to the right heart to beat. He held his lightsaber in place and parried the blow, and then all hell broke loose. Years, if not centuries, of rivalry between the two of them now poured out with each swing of their sapphire-colored lightsabers, raining sparks upon the durasteel floor with each clash. Battle erupted around them like an inferno, as deflected slashes and parried thrusts scoured the landing platform.

Suddenly, Anakin performed a Force-guided back-flip, then held out his hand and waved it backwards. To the Doctor's horror, the paradox machine went flying off into the molten rock below their platform.

"No!" Ten exclaimed.

"Checkmate, Doctor," Anakin smiled victoriously. "Kill me and you change the future irrevocably: it will create a fixed point in time, one that will spell certain doom for Skywalker's child. Make your choice, Doctor. Kill me and you kill the future: let me live..." He laughed. "...and who knows what I'll do to this galaxy."

There was silence. The two adversaries glared each other down, and then the Doctor made the first move. He deactivated his lightsaber.

"Just like you, Doctor," Anakin mocked. "A coward!"

"There's still hope, Anakin!" the Doctor shouted. "You're still in there, I _know_ you can resist him!"

"Who are you talking to, Doctor?" Skywalker smiled. "He's not here anymore, haven't you figured that out yet?" With a flourish, he threw his lightsaber up in the air and caught it with his right hand, the mechanical hand. Then, before the Doctor could utter an _allons-y_, Anakin held out his left hand and sent a wave of Force Lightning snaking out towards the Doctor. In one quick move, he reactivated his lightsaber and held it in place, just barely deflecting it.

"Do you see, Doctor?" Anakin asked. "Skywalker could never do that, not without _my_ knowledge of the dark side." He held out his hand again, and sent another wave of Force Lightning. The Doctor barely held it off, but it was clear to see that even this was starting to tell on his strength.

"You're getting weaker," Anakin mocked. "I've waited too long for this day. The day the Doctor dies."

* * *

From the door of the TARDIS, River had watched the events of the battle unfold. She watched as the Doctor was being beaten by the Force Lightning, something she had seen but three years ago. It was awful watching this: she couldn't stand by idly anymore. She _had_ to do something. Then she remembered and mentally slapped herself on the forehead. _All this whining_, she thought. _And I could just blast pretty boy's head off with my sonic blaster!_ She reached onto her belt, pulled out the blaster...and gasped as it flew out of her hand and entered Anakin's left hand.

"Thought I forgot about you, assassin?" he laughed. "No, if anyone kills the Doctor, it will be me." Using the Force, he crushed her sonic blaster in his hand, then tossed it aside. Suddenly, River was thrown back, her whole body convulsing and twitching from the sudden attack of Force Lightning.

When she finally pushed herself back onto her feet, she saw the Doctor was hit again by Force Lightning. But this time, he couldn't hold it off anymore. His lightsaber went flying. Anakin laughed at the Doctor, then held out his hand towards the Doctor. This time, it would be lethal. But he wasn't just some dark-sider, he was actually the Master. He would make sure to thoroughly kill the Doctor, and if that happened...

River Song could not let that happen. With her mind thick with memories, she called upon what knowledge of the Force she possessed, and directed it towards moving in front of the Doctor as fast as she could. She felt herself moving through the hot air of Mustafar faster than she had ever moved on her own. She had completely forgotten about her lightsabers, for at this moment, the Doctor's life was in danger. That was one of the rules of traveling with the Doctor, of being his 'Children of Time', the Doctor's army: never show that you're weak or aging, never let him help you...

But give your life for him in a second.

She suddenly halted, her body collapsing as wave after wave of Force Lightning, meant for the Doctor, coursed over her body. Every nerve was fried, every cell of her being screamed in pain. She fell to her knees, twitching and convulsing, unable to hold in her cries of agony any further. River Song, the Doctor's wife, the woman who killed the Doctor, Melody Pond, did a selfless act for the first time in her life. It hurt worse than killing the man she loved.

The last thing she heard, before she lost consciousness, was the Doctor's voice: "No!"

* * *

**(AN: So the Master destroys the paradox machine, so THERE WILL BE NO KILLING OF ANAKIN! Seriously, you're as bad as that Norwegian black metal **** who suggested I use rape as a plot device in my Skyrim fic, or those _Lord of the Rings_ fans who want the Eagles to fly the Fellowship over Mount Doom! Have you ever considered that, if Anakin died, there would be no Darth Vader and therefore Luke would die if he went before the Emperor? Of course, with both Yoda and Obi-wan dead, who would train Leia? How could she defeat the Emperor either?)**

**(And, in keeping with the nature of Doctor Who, I created an infinite causality loop. Did the Doctor, who goes on to be the one who rescues Han and Luke in _The Doctor's Star Wars_, remember this act of self-sacrifice and return the favor on Had Abbadon? Or, did River, who had already experienced said events, remember the Doctor's act of self-sacrifice and return the favor here? So...who really is indebted to whom or who inspired self-sacrifice in whom: the genocidal god or the murderess?)**


	29. Heart of the TARDIS

**(AN: Remember, no midi-chlroians in this story, but I will have an explanation for what happens.)**

* * *

**Heart of the TARDIS**

The Doctor had moved his way into the path of the Force Lightning, receiving it on the palms of his hands. The bolts arced off of River Song's body and over his own, but his own knowledge of the Force kept them at bay, but only just. He took a step forward and the lightning bolts receded. Then, he pushed forward again, and the bolts faded into blue haze, then dissipated all together.

"This is between you and me!" the Doctor shouted to Skywalker. "Leave my companions out of this."

Skywalker laughed. "I know your Achilles' heel, Doctor. Next time we meet, I'll know how to defeat you."

"You mean you _weren't_ trying to defeat me now?" the Doctor asked.

Skywalker said nothing, his eyes still trained on the Doctor. Then he laughed.

"I've already won," he said. "All that's left is for you to run, coward. Run, like you've done your whole life, run and choose the place where you shall die. I know you won't kill me: you're too weak."

The Doctor said nothing, but looked about this way and that, and suddenly he saw something in the upper atmosphere, miles above the clouds. It was a star, but a star at daytime. For day it was, though Mustafar's sun was hidden behind the clouds. It was starting to get brighter, and the Doctor knew just what that ship was and who was on it. He had outstayed his welcome.

"Yeah, you're right," Ten said, kneeling down and picking up River in his arms. "I won't kill you, not like this."

"Are you actually going to run away from me, _again?_" Skywalker asked.

"You're still there, Anakin," he said. "I know you are, even if you refuse to believe it. One day you'll win, I know it will happen. And when that does, Master, where will you be? Alone, forsaken, forgotten. The one who sought mastery over all of time and space, and you'll be alone, powerless." He picked up River, stood and turned his back on the Master.

"Where are you going? What are you doing?"

"Making history, Anakin. Making history."

"No, come back! I demand that you come back now!"

But the Doctor wasn't listening. He sprinted the last few meters into the TARDIS and almost threw himself onto his Fourth and Ninth incarnations, throwing River into their arms as he ran to the doors and shut them. Then he ran back to the console and threw levers.

"Hang on, everyone!" he announced. "'Cuz this is about to get a little bumpy!"

He threw the last lever, and the whole TARDIS lurched. The sound of grinding gears and explosions was heard, the entire main cabin swayed and crashed about, leaving little time for the inhabitants of the TARDIS to grab onto something.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Nine shouted.

"It's Skywalker!" Ten replied, checking the console. "He's got us in a Force grip. He's trying to keep the TARDIS from leaving the planet."

"Can he do that?" Rose asked.

"There's almost no limit to what one can do with the Force, either side!" Ten replied.

The TARDIS lurched again, raining sparks out at those gathered about the console. Levers ground against each other in protest as they were pushed or pulled, the whirring sound of the 'parking brakes' was long and drawn out, the pylons in the center were moving erratically and out of synchronization. The walls buckled, some of the nodes compressing or imploding on themselves. One of the cables from the ceiling snapped and let down some kind of white gas upon the inhabitants.

"That's a bad gas!" Ten shouted. "Don't breathe in the gas! Nine, do something!"

"Why me?"

"Because I've got to pilot the ship!" he retorted. "Four, see to Rose!"

While Rose buried her face in one of the Fourth Doctor's scarves, Nine made his way up the stairs to the conduit whose cable had ruptured and, sonic screwdriver out, started to attempt a repair on the go.

"Come on, old girl!" Ten shouted to the TARDIS. "Don't let me down, not this time!"

But nothing the Doctor did would make the TARDIS respond in any positive way. On one of the view-ports, he could see Anakin Skywalker, standing mere meters away from the door, both hands held out. He hadn't moved and neither would they. It seemed an anticlimactic way to go: surviving almost seven hundred years of travel with the TARDIS only to end here, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, crushed in his stolen TARDIS by the Dark Lord of the Sith.

Then suddenly, the engines whirred, the pylons moved in synchronization, and stability was returned to the occupants of the ship. Ten looked at the read-outs on the TARDIS console, and then laughed, running his hands through his short, spiky hair triumphantly.

"Ha ha!" he exclaimed. "Well done, old girl! TARDIS comes through again!"

"Wait, what just happened?" Rose asked.

"We've shifted in time, my child," the first Doctor began. "You see, the TARDIS doesn't merely travel in space, but also in time as well."

"But the Master had us in a Force grip," the fourth Doctor continued. "We couldn't escape through space, but we could through time. Once the engines were started, nothing could hold us back, not even the Force."

"But why?" Rose asked. "I thought the Force was supposed to be all-powerful."

"The Force is generated by all living things," Nine said. "Life creates it and sustains it, but the TARDIS is even stronger. The sheer power a Type 40 TARDIS exerts is enough to tear a hole in the universe, and that's just what we know."

"So, exert two forces against each other, the strongest one wins," the Tenth Doctor concluded. "Not that the Force isn't strong, but the amount of concentration and drawing upon the Force that it would take to keep a TARDIS from shifting through time and space would destroy five planets, each of them with population densities the size of Coruscant. To put it shortly, Rose Tyler, it would make Malachor V look like a bad day."

"What happened then?"

"Oh, that's right!" Ten exclaimed. "That was almost four thousand years ago, they wouldn't have told you that, because you're not in the Jedi! But, look, Rose Tyler, I promised you that I would take you back, and here we are."

"We are?" she asked. "Where _are_ we?"

Ten walked over to the TARDIS console, leading Rose by the arm. "Earth, 21st century, the year 2005, or close to the end, at least." He turned back to Rose, a smile on her face. "We're going home!"

"Oh, Doctor!" Rose exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck as she embraced him. "I knew you'd come through. You had me going there for a moment, but I..."

Then, to the surprise of a few of them present, Rose Tyler collapsed in the Tenth Doctor's arms.

"What did you do?" a voice asked. They turned to see River Song, pushing herself up from where she had been placed down to rest.

"I erased her memories of the past four years," the Tenth Doctor said. "She won't remember a thing, but that's the way it has to be."

* * *

**(AN: I've got loose-ends to wrap up, and I'm thinking about doing another _Doctor Who_ story once this is done [but just one more, I won't go all out like with the _Ozian Adventures_ series...sounds like I've said that before.)**

**(Yes, the TARDIS is depicted as being very powerful, so I thought that it could escape a Force grip, unless the wielder drew on the Force so much, that it started sucking the life out of everything on the planet/within a five-planet diameter, just to sustain a grip on something so powerful, it could "switch off the sun" or "blow a hole in the universe." Obviously, the TARDIS is quite strong.)**


	30. Good Beginnings

**(AN: If you've been following along since _The Doctor's Star Wars_, here is the big finish where I fix up all that I've ruined [lol]. If there's anything that you still quite don't get, put it in the reviews and I'll shoot a message your way.)**

* * *

**Good Beginnings**

The TARDIS was hurling through time and space once again. Inside, all were silent. Rose was sleeping in one of the beds away from the main room, wrapped in her purple hoodie. At the helm was the Tenth Doctor, directing their course somewhere he had been hundreds of years ago.

"I thought you were taking her back home," River said.

"I am," Ten replied. "But we've done our duty, now it's time to send all of you back where you belong."

"But without the paradox machine," River replied. "How will you go back on your own time-stream?"

"It's not me, it's the TARDIS," Ten said. "It's got just enough energy to make a few trips, but nothing too severe." He looked at the readings. "Ah, here we are: Turaak, ninth century." He turned to his first incarnation. "Come on, now. Ian, Barbara and Susan are out there looking for you."

"Quite right," the first Doctor said. He then made sure he had his cane in hand, then made his way to the door. He then turned to the others. "Well, Professor Song, I never thought I'd live to see myself say this, but I'm quite glad to have met you."

"Spare me the sentimentality, sweetie," she replied, though she was smiling.

"And as for you," he said, indicating to the Tenth Doctor. "If you're what I have to look forward to, I have a fear for my future."

"Yeah, that's what they've all said," Ten smiled. "It all works out though." He playfully saluted his first incarnation, who exited the doors of the TARDIS and walked out onto the rocky planet beyond. The doors closed behind him and Ten went back to the console. Then he made a face and slapped himself in the forehead.

"Oh, bugger!" he exclaimed. "I forgot to fix his memory!"

"No, there's no need," Four spoke up. "Don't you see? He has the memory of these events, which I have because I am him further down the line, and then one day, I will go back and insure this adventure happens at all!"

"Oh, yes!" Ten smiled. "Wibbley wobbley timey wimey." He threw a lever. "There you are now: Germany, '42."

"Germany '42?" River asked.

"1442," the Fourth Doctor said with a smile. He looked at his older incarnation. "Will we ever do this sort of thing again?"

"Oh yes," Ten said with a smile.

The fourth Doctor then smiled and turned to the young Timelord behind him. "Come on, Romana."

The two made their way to the door, but then the Fourth Doctor halted, reached into his pockets and handed River a jelly baby, then gave two to his Ninth incarnation, one for him and one for Rose when she woke up, and a handful to Ten.

"You're gonna need them further down the line," he said with a crooked smile. Then he picked up his hat from the hangar near the door, placed it atop his curly head, then sprang out of the TARDIS, Romana in tow. Once the doors closed, Ten ran back to the console.

"Just a few more stops to make, that should be all," he said, and placed his hand on the lever. But another hand rested on his own.

"Not yet, sweetie," River shook her head.

"What, what do you mean?" he asked.

"He needs the TARDIS," River said, gesturing to the Ninth Doctor.

"What about me? It's my TARDIS, after all!"

"You'll get it in time," River replied. "For now, we need to go here." She reset the coordinates, then threw the lever. Moments later, the Doctor looked down at his instruments.

"Sixth planet of the Hoth system, back in...three years after the Battle of Yavin," he read. "But what's important about that?"

"There are some people you have to save," River said.

"Pe..." the Doctor's eyes swelled as he suddenly recognized. "Blizzard on Hoth, Captain Solo and Commander Skywalker. They're out...and I rescue them?"

"Yes," River smiled, though there was a sad twinkling in her eyes.

"Oh, right," Ten said, then cleared his throat and adjusted his neck-tie. "Well, better get on some proper snow-gear. Have I ever told you just how cold it gets on Hoth? I mean, there were snows on Gallifrey, but one of the first Timelords to explore this planet lost his hand to frost-bite. His whole hand!"

The Doctor continued rambling while he went to the wardrobe, then came back, looking like an Inuit, dressed in a thick white snow-suit with fur-lined hood. He then turned to the Ninth Doctor.

"Well, I guess this is it," he said. "I'll see you around."

"Don't worry about the TARDIS," the Ninth Doctor said. "I've got her, and I'll take her home. Remember..." He tapped his temple. "All of your memories are inside me. I know where to go."

Ten smiled. "I can step out of those doors, knowing the TARDIS is in good hands."

"It always has been."

"Now, look, I know you're not much of a sentimental person," the Tenth Doctor said to his younger counterpart. "But just stand there, 'cuz I'm gonna hug you." He wrapped his arms around his younger incarnation, as they parted, the Ninth Doctor was dusting off his jacket.

"Hugging?" he asked. "That's what I have to look forward to? _And_ not ginger? Am I ever going to be ginger?"

"You'll do fine," Ten smiled. He then turned his back and made his way to the doors of the TARDIS, now open to the snowy ice planet beyond. He turned back to his ninth incarnation.

"You know, before I go, there's something I gotta say."

"What, 'I love you?'" the Ninth Doctor replied with a sarcastic tone.

"No, no, not that," Ten replied. "Listen, Doctor: you were fantastic, absolutely fantastic."

"You think so?" the Ninth Doctor asked with equal sarcasm.

"Oh, and make sure she leaves!" he gestured to River. "Don't let her bully you out of the TARDIS."

"I won't, cross my hearts," Nine said with a cheeky smile.

Ten then turned into the blizzard and with a triumphant cry of "_Allons-y!_", he stepped out onto the surface of Hoth, to make history. Once the doors closed, the Ninth Doctor ran to the console and started inputting the coordinates. He then looked up and saw River still standing there.

"Oi!" he exclaimed. "Push off, now. You heard him!"

"You are in no place to command me!" River replied.

"Oh, am I?" the Ninth Doctor asked. "What are you gonna do, shoot me with your broken sonic blaster?" River pulled out her sonic blaster, lying in pieces, and saw the Ninth Doctor smiling smugly back at her.

River sighed. "I suppose I have fulfilled my mission." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the vortex manipulator, which she wrapped on her wrist.

"What's that, is that a vortex manipulator?" Nine asked. "How the hell did you get that?"

"Careful, sweetie," she said with a cheeky wink. "Spoilers." Then, in a quiet flash, River Song had disappeared back in time.

* * *

"Wake up, Rose Tyler," were the first words she heard.

Rose lifted her head and saw that she had been asleep on the floor of the TARDIS. She saw the door was open and started for a moment, but remembered that she was safe inside. Outside, she saw the rings of Anso glistening in the sunlight.

"What happened?" she asked. "I think I...blimey! What a dream!"

"You should tell me all about it, later," the Doctor said. He was busy at the console. "We're off on our next stop. Do you suppose we should stop by Earth, 200,000? Maybe a hundred years later, see how everything's changed after we took down the Game Station. Fourth Human Empire is quite a sight to be hold, Rose! But then again, if we're talking about empires..." He threw a switch.

"Where are we going now?" Rose asked.

"Earth, 16th century," the Doctor said with a smile. "You want empires? Let's see feudal Japan!"

* * *

When everything materialized, River Song found herself standing inside the TARDIS. For a moment, she was wondering if everything hadn't changed, if she hadn't gone anywhere. She ran to the console for a quick check and saw that the location was definitely different. Not Hoth, but Endor, one year after dropping off the Tenth Doctor into his place in this time-stream. But she didn't know if anything had changed. She was here, and the vortex manipulator on her arm, which felt like a paradox, since it had been stolen by Rose when they first arrived here. She checked the chronometer again, it was just a few moments after she had taken the TARDIS back four years to save the Doctor from the exploding Death Star. Thirteen years in a matter of a few moments.

She stepped outside the doors and saw that dusk had fallen on Endor. In the trees, the sound of Ewok voices singing triumphant victory songs drifted along the cool breeze. At the brink of the hill on which the TARDIS was landed sat the three people dearest to her: her parents, the Ponds, and the Doctor.

"Mels, there yee are!" Amy spoke up.

"Hello, mum," River replied.

The Doctor turned about, the same one she had left when she left Endor what felt like thirteen years ago: thick, wavy brown hair, thin, almost nonexistent eyebrows, small beady eyes, protruding chin and quirky red bow-tie sitting jauntily on his neck.

"Did it work?" she whispered to him. "I mean, do you remember..."

"Naboo?" he returned. "Geonosis, Siege of Coruscant, Mustafar?" He smirked. "Yeah, I remember. And I would say it worked, brilliant job." He then turned to the Ponds. "And now, we can leave! Ugh, little teddy bears singing 'Jub Jub' is possibly the worst thing ever, par on with Vogon poetry. Come along now, Amy, Rory, River: to the TARDIS!"

They jogged the rest of the way to the TARDIS, though no one could keep up with the long strides of the Doctor. Once inside, the doors were shut, the engines went on - with the whirring noise that River hated still rushing along - and moments later, the door was opened and they were inside the Pond's kitchen.

"See what I said, mum, dad?" River said. "Right where I found you..." She looked over at the stove. "And the tea's still warm."

"Blimey!" Rory commented.

"Well, now," the Doctor said, stepping out and placing his arm around Rory and Amy. "That was fun, huh? Can't wait to do it again, huh? New York, right? Yeah, don't go around the Pond very often, no pun intended. Will definitely go to New York, first things first, gonna fix the TARDIS, something wrong with the timey wimey circuit, it doesn't go wibbley wobbley anymore. Just gonna take it for a quick spin, lolly-gag and fiddle-faddle about the universe for a bit, then be right back to take you all to New York!"

"Doon' take too long, raggedy man." Amy said.

"Oh, I won't, not this time," the Doctor winked. "You know I can't stay away from you two: the Boy and Girl Who Waited. There will be some waiting, but not too much. I'll be back before you can say 'Geronimo', you'll see!"

With River in tow, the Doctor ran back to the TARDIS and shut the doors.

"Oh, sweetie," River began. "I really need to be going now."

"Oh, no, why?" the Doctor asked. "You know, I'm rather starting to like all the chaos that happens when you show up." Just then, he looked up and his mouth fell open. River turned about and the same effect occurred with her. There, standing inside the TARDIS, was a Middle Eastern man, clad all in black, with his face uncovered. He turned to the Doctor and, for a moment, the Doctor could see a faint glimmer in his eyes, like golden light.

"And I think it just started." he whispered.

* * *

**(AN: Lol, I tied up all the endings from our two-parter cross-over, and then set the stage for the next story. Now I'll _have_ to keep going! :D Yay!)**

**(Hope you enjoyed the ride, and will be there for the next adventure, _Death's Head: Guardian of Time, _coming soon.)**


End file.
